Clinical Characteristics and Management of Cerebral Venous Sinus Thrombosis in Patients With Antiphospholipid Syndrome: A Single-Center Retrospective Study

Abstract

Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) with cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) is a relatively rare phenomenon, and this observational study aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics of APS patients complicated with CVST. We retrospectively investigated the clinical characteristics of CVST events in APS and compared differential characteristics and associated factors between APS patients with and without CVST. Twenty-one CVST patients with APS were enrolled including 14 females (9.4%) and 7 males (5.8%). The median age and disease duration at onset of CVST was 33 years (IQR 28-48) old and 1.3 months (IQR 0.7-4), respectively. Among APS patients with CVST, 12 (57.1%) cases presented with neurologic symptoms of CVST as the initial manifestation. Onset of CVST was mainly chronic (52.4%). Headache (90.5%) was the most common neurological symptom. The common locations of CVST were transverse sinus (76.2%) and superior sagittal sinus (57.1%), with more frequently (76.2%) dual or multiple sinuses involved. All patients with CVST were treated with anticoagulant, and 5 (23.8%) patients received endovascular therapy. Sixteen (84.2%) patients had good outcomes and 3 (15.8%) patients died at last follow-up. There were no significant differences (P > 0.05) between two groups in the analysis of related APS indicators. There were no significant differences (P > 0.05) between two groups in the analysis of related APS indicators. Although APS complicated with CVST is rare and predominately chronic developed. The evaluation of CVST should be performed for APS patients with intracranial hypertension syndrome. The routine screening of antiphospholipid antibodies (aPLs) is highly recommended in unexplained CVST patients. Most CVST patients with APS will have a good prognosis after treatment, and endovascular therapy is an alternative treatment.