Cerebral Vein Thrombosis in the Antiphospholipid Syndrome: Analysis of a Series of 27 Patients and Review of the Literature

Abstract

(1) Background: The Antiphospholipid Syndrome (APS) is a systemic autoimmune disorder characterized by arterial and/or venous thrombosis, pregnancy morbidity and raised titers of antiphospholipid antibodies. Cerebral vein thrombosis (CVT) is a rare form of cerebrovascular accident and an uncommon APS manifestation; the information in the literature about this feature consists of case reports and small case series. Our purpose is to describe the particular characteristics of CVT when occurs as part of the APS and compare our series with the patients published in the literature. (2) Methods: We conducted a retrospective observational study collecting data from medical records in three referral centers for APS and CVT, and a systematic review of the literature for CVT cases in APS patients. (3) Results: Twenty-seven APS patients with CVT were identified in our medical records, the majority of them diagnosed as primary APS and with the CVT being the first manifestation of the disease; additional risk factors for thrombosis were identified. The review of the literature yielded 86 cases, with similar characteristics as those of our retrospective series. (4) Conclusions: To our knowledge, our study is the largest CVT series in APS patients published to date, providing a unique point of view in this rare thrombotic manifestation.

Keywords

• antiphospholipid syndrome
• antiphospholipid antibodies
• cerebral vein thrombosis
• intracranial sinus thrombosis