Cerebral venous thrombosis associated with maxillary and ethmoid sinusitis: a case report

Abstract

We herein report a young patient with cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) with clinical and neuroradiological findings of the left maxillary and anterior ethmoid sinusitis. Serial brain MRIs showed cerebral venous infarct and thrombosis in the superior sagittal sinus (SSS). MR angiography demonstrated nonvisualization of SSS and bilateral transverse sinus. According to our knowledge, CVT associated with maxillary and ethmoid sinusitis has been reported very rarely. High index of suspicion and neuroimaging studies, especially brain MRI, and conventional or MR angiography are very important for the early diagnosis of CVT.

Cerebral Venous Thrombosis

“…In addition, the sphenoid wall can be extremely thin, and sometimes the sinus cavity is separated by just a thin mucosal barrier system from the adjacent structures. In cases of ethmoid or maxillary sinusitis sphenoid sinusitis may be missed [ 26 ]. This might have been the case in our patient, and the diagnosis of cerebral venous thrombosis was delayed.…”

“…We would like to present a young patient with CVT published by Te-Gyu Lee [ 26 ] in 1995. A 32 year old man was admitted to the emergency room with a generalized tonic seizure and otherwise good health until 6 months prior to admission.…”

What about cerebral venous sinus thrombosis? A series of three autopsy cases

“…In patients aged over 55 years, CVST is equally prevalent between the sexes, and malignancy is a frequent cause [15] . Infection of the central nervous system, either from hematogenous dissemination, direct contamination or spread from adjacent structures, like in otitis media or sinusitis, is another important cause of CVST [16] , [17] . In 80% of cases a definite risk factor or cause of CVST can be recognized, while the rest are classified as idiopathic [18] .…”