The syndrome of latent cerebral venous thrombosis: Its frequency and relation to age and congestive heart failure

Abstract

The present investigation indicates the high incidence of intracranial venous thrombosis in adults in the older age groups, especially in the female. Commonly overlooked clinically and pathologically, cerebral venous thrombosis is usually preceded by congestive circulatory failure and other related systemic disturbances. Most patients with venous thrombosis intracranially also develop thromboembolic complications at other sites in the body. Although often latent clinically, concurrent pulmonary embolism (as revealed in postmortem studies) occurs in a majority of patients with cerebral venous thrombosis. With clinical and pathological aspects of the process correlated, cerebral venous thrombosis in the aged presents a characteristic pattern. In some cases, in patients with enigmatic progressive coma and neurological deterioration, cerebral venous thrombosis occurs as the primary cause of death. In other instances, in patients with cardiac disease or other major systemic disorders, intracranial venous thrombosis develops as a terminal complication leading to death. Cerebral venous thrombosis is of increasing incidence. There is an expressed need that this form of stroke be more widely recognized clinically. © 1973 American Heart Association, Inc.