Internal jugular vein thrombosis: outcome and risk factors

Abstract

Introduction: The aims of this study were to analyse the characteristics of patients with internal jugular venous thrombosis. We compared the characteristics of patients with internal jugular venous thrombosis with those of patients exhibiting upper extremity deep venous thrombosis (UEDVT) without internal jugular vein involvement.

Patients: From 1998 to 2007, 1948 consecutive patients were referred to our Department of Internal Medicine for deep venous thrombosis.

Results: Sixty-four patients exhibited UEDVT. Internal jugular venous thrombosis was diagnosed in 29 patients. Twenty-three patients had secondary thrombosis mainly due to cancer, central venous catheter and ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome; three of the four patients with bilateral DVT exhibited cancer. Six patients had primary internal jugular vein thrombosis. Complications of internal jugular vein thrombosis were pulmonary embolism (10.3%) and post-thrombotic syndrome (41.4%). Under multivariate analysis, significant factors for internal jugular vein thrombosis were older patients (P = 0.0008), female gender (P = 0.0035) and ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (P = 0.0093).

Conclusion: Our study underscores that the most common causes of internal jugular vein thrombosis are cancer, central venous catheter and ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome; it also underlines that bilateral internal jugular vein thrombosis is a significant risk indicator of malignancy Thrombosis led to high morbidity related to pulmonary embolism and post-thrombotic syndrome, principally in patients with secondary DVT. The knowledge of predictive factors of internal jugular vein thrombosis seems to be of utmost importance to improve patients' management.