D-Dimer Level Associates with the Incidence of Focal Neurological Deficits in Cerebral Venous Thrombosis Patients

Abstract

Purpose: D-dimer is one of the main coagulation factors that plays a role in some diseases. Cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) is a rare cerebrovascular disease with various clinical presentations, and the D-dimer might contribute to its clinical progress. Our study’s objective was to explore the association between D-dimer level and focal neurological deficits in selected CVT patients. Patients and Methods: The patients’ data were retrospectively enrolled if they showed venous thrombus features in the digital subtraction angiography examination. Data collected were then evaluated using appropriate statistical tests. Results: In a total of 30 patients, 24 patients had focal neurological deficits with abnormal D-dimer (mean 1.13±1.359 mg/L). We continued analysis to determine the association between the visual analog scale (VAS), a tool to measure the patient’s pain, and coagulation factors. There was no significant association between the VAS score and all the coagulation factors. Interestingly, a positive association was found between focal neurological deficits and abnormal D-dimer levels (p=0.009). Conclusion: The abnormality of D-dimer levels in CVT’s patients associates with the incidence of focal neurological deficits.