Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis: A great masquerader

Abstract

Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) and cortical venous thrombosis (CVT) leading to ischemia and infarction of the brain are being increasingly detected in recent times with the advent of greater awareness amongst the clinicians and greater availability of non-invasive radiodiagnostic modalities like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and MR venography. Patients often present with protean neurological manifestations in the form of focal neurological deficits, seizures, headache and other features of raised intracranial tension, leading to misdiagnosis and delay in treatment. The clinical presentation may be with features suggestive of transient ischemic attack (TIA) or at times an intracranial space-occupying lesion (ICSOL). High index of suspicion is required in appropriate clinical settings to diagnose this entity at the earliest and ensure prompt treatment with anticoagulants, which can result in almost complete neurological recovery. We report three such cases, which presented to us with varying manifestations, and briefly discuss this entity.