Bilateral cavernous sinus and ophthalmic vein thrombosis secondary to Trueperella pyogenes rhinosinusitis

Abstract

Ophthalmic vein thrombosis is a severe clinical entity with proptosis, eyelid swelling, orbital pain and reduction of visual acuity; its incidence is rare with 3–4 cases /million /year. Clinical manifestations result from venous congestion caused by septic (orbital cellulitis) or aseptic aetiologies (coagulopathies, trauma) and in some cases it could be associated with cavernous sinus thrombosis. In this paper, we describe a case report unique in the literature, of bilateral cavernous sinus and ophthalmic veins thrombosis due to both septic and aseptic causes characterized by unilateral sphenoid sinusitis sustained by Trueperella pyogenes infection. Trueperella pyogenes is an opportunistic animal pathogen, and its infections occur in both domestic and wild animals worldwide but are rare in humans; this is the first instance of human infection in the head and neck with an unknown hypercoagulable state.