Clinical, etiological and radiological profile of cerebral venous thrombosis in obstetric population at a tertiary care center in Tamil Nadu

Abstract

Background and objective: Cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) is any thrombosis that occurs in intracranial veins and sinuses. It is a rare disorder affecting 5 persons per million per year and has a huge regional variation. In India the prevalence of CVT is about 4.5/1000 obstetric admissions. The exact pathogenesis of pregnancy associated CVT is still not clear. The clinico etiological profile also has wide regional variation. Hence this study is being done to study the clinical ,demographic profile, etiology , neuro imaging findings of CVT in obstetric population presenting to Thanjavur medical college hospital, a tertiary care center in Tamilnadu. Methods: Patients who are either pregnant or in their puerperal period with MRI brain and venogram reported as CVT and patients presenting to OPD with diagnosis of CVT during their pregnancy and puerperal period were included. A detailed history, examination was carried out and all patients were treated according to standard treatment protocol. They were followed up in OPD and procoagulant factor work up was done in patients when possible. Results: Maximum occurrence of CVT were primi, 67% were multipara, 53.3% of patients had CVT in the 2nd week of postpartum period, 44% had undergone caeserean section. We found Anemia (37.3%), Headache was the most common symptom. 78.6% had single sinus involvement and 21.3% had multiple sinus involvement. Interpretation and conclusion: People must be made aware of the risk factors and early symptoms of cerebral venous thrombosis. Postpartum headache deserves prompt and focused evaluation. Early diagnosis and early initiation of treatment reduces the mortality of CVT in young female