Clinicoradiological Profile and Functional Outcome of Acute Cerebral Venous Thrombosis: A Hospital-Based Cohort Study

Introduction Acute cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) may result in a variety of clinical presentations, with headache being the most common. The relationship between clinical and neuroradiological characteristics in acute CVT patients is still not univocally characterized. Materials and methods We enrolled 32 consecutive acute CVT patients admitted to our emergency department from January 1, 2012, to June 30, 2019. Clinicoradiological associations and their relationship with the functional outcome at the discharge were tested. Results Headache was the presenting symptom in 85% of patients, more frequently subacute (82%), new-onset (67%), with unusual features in respect to prior headache episodes (100%), and associated with concomitant neurological symptoms/signs (74%). Patients with holocranial headache showed more frequent venous ischemia (VI) compared to those with bilateral and unilateral headache (50% vs. 20% vs. 0%, respectively; p=0.027). Patients with concomitant neurological defects had a higher prevalence of VI (50.0% vs. 15.0%; p=0.049) and superior sagittal sinus thrombosis (67% vs. 30%; p=0.043) than those without. Vomit was more frequently observed in patients with straight sinus thrombosis (67% vs. 8%; p=0.005). Increasing age and VI were independently associated with poor (modified Rankin scale (mRS) 2-5) functional outcome (odds ratio (OR) = 1.081, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.004-1.165; p=0.038 and OR = 12.089, 95% CI 1.141-128.104; p=0.039, respectively). Conclusions Our study confirms and enriches available data on the clinicoradiological profile of patients with acute CVT and suggests that increasing age and venous ischemia are independently associated with poor outcomes.