Cerebral venous and sinus thrombosis: patients with a fatal outcome during intravenous dose-adjusted heparin treatment

Abstract

Introduction: Although anticoagulation (AC) reduces the risk of a fatal outcome or severe disability in patients with cerebral venous and sinus thrombosis (CVST), prognosis of severe cases is still difficult to predict. The authors studied the clinical course of patients with CVST who died despite AC therapy to look for clinical features that might explain the lethal course of these patients.

Materials and methods: Retrospective analysis of a series of 79 consecutive patients with CVST who were treated with a standard regimen of dose-adjusted iv heparin. Case histories of patients with a fatal outcome are presented.

Results: The authors identified eight patients with a fatal outcome. All patients were stuporous or comatose at the start of AC, and four patients showed markedly delayed intracranial circulation times, indicating extensive venous thrombosis. Two patients improved, but deteriorated secondarily after reduction or discontinuation of AC. Sufficient activated partial thromboplastin time levels were reached only after a delay in three patients, and critical deterioration occurred in two of them during this time.

Conclusion: Although inadequate AC may have contributed to the fatal outcome, some patients with extensive venous thrombosis who are stuporous or comatose at the start of AC may carry an increased risk of death, despite heparin therapy. More aggressive treatment approaches, such as endovascular thrombolysis, may be needed for this subgroup of patients with CVST.