Clinicoepidemiological profile of cerebral venous thrombosis in Algarve, Portugal: A retrospective observational study

BACKGROUND: Cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) is a very uncommon disorder with a wide variety of clinical manifestations. There are few studies describing the clinical and epidemiological profile of CVT in peripheral or rural areas. Over the last decades, the frequency in which this disease is diagnosed has increased due to greater awareness and availability of noninvasive diagnostic techniques. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A hospital-based retrospective case review of adult (≥15 years) patients with CVT between 2001 and 2012 is described. 31 patients with confirmed imagiological diagnosis of CVT were included. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Statistical analysis was performed using R version 2.15.2. Incidence rate was computed as number of new cases by time. Confidence interval (CI) was set at 95% and P < 0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: The average annual incidence was 0.84 (CI: 0.58–1.18) to 0.73 (CI: 0.5–1.02) per 100 000 cases for adult population. There were 23 (74%) women and 8 (26%) men. Predominant initial manifestations were headache, followed by altered mental status and seizures. Median diagnostic delay from onset of illness was 8 days. All patients were treated with unfractionated heparin or low-molecular heparin followed by warfarin. Complete recovery occurred in the majority of cases 22 (78.6%) but two patients died during hospitalization. CONCLUSIONS: Albeit with some particularities, the epidemiology and clinical manifestations we found are comparable to what has been reported in western studies.