Descriptive Study of Headache as the Most Common Presenting Feature of Cerebral Venous Thrombosis

Objective: To study the etiology and clinical characteristics of cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) patients with a detailed description of headache as a presenting feature. Introduction: CVT is an infrequent type of stroke with protean clinical manifestations. The most common presenting symptom in CVT is headache (>85%), followed by seizures and focal neurological deficits. Methods: A total of 32 consecutive and confirmed patients of CVT were recruited after obtaining informed consent. CVT was diagnosed based on clinical and imaging parameters. Data regarding etiology, clinical symptoms, and signs with special mention of headache pattern, onset, site, character, severity (based on the visual analog scale), aggravating and relieving factors, as well as sinus involvement were recorded. Results: A total of 32 patients (16 males and 16 females) with a mean age of 31.56 (SD = 14.31) years were recruited, out of which 31 patients (96.87%) presented with headaches. The mode of onset of headache was acute in 19.35%, sub-acute in 67.75%, and chronic in 12.9% of patients. Location was holocranial in 38.71%, hemicranial in 29.03%, frontal in 22.58%, and occipital in 9.68% of patients. Headache was severe in 38.7% and moderate in 61.3% of patients. Character was throbbing in 67.74%, heaviness in 25.8%, and band-like in 6.46% of patients. Headache was aggravated on bending forward in 58.06%, movement in 35.48%, coughing in 32.26%, straining in 25.8%, and standing in 16.12% of patients. The relieving factors of headache were lying down in 45.16%, sleeping in 45.16%, and sitting quietly in 9.86% of patients. Conclusion: CVT should be suspected in patients presenting with new-onset holocranial or hemicranial headaches of increasing intensity, thereby requiring early imaging and appropriate management.