HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS REGISTER		Author Keyword(s) Vol Page [Advanced]

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this link to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Add article to my folders Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Diener, H-C Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Diener, H-C Topic Collections Relevant Article

Cerebral venous thrombosis – headache is enough

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Professor Hans-Christoph Diener
Department of Neurology, University Essen, Germany; h.diener@uni-essen.de

Keywords: cerebral venous thrombosis; headache

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

In this issue the paper by Cumurciuc et al¹ (pp 1084–7) reports 17 cases from 123 consecutive patients with cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) in whom the only neurological sign was headache. The series is biased by the fact that the Department of Neurology of the Lariboisiere Hospital in Paris has particular competence both in headache and stroke, and runs an emergency headache centre where patients can consult a headache specialist without long waiting times. What are the lessons to be learned from this paper?

1. Computed tomography (CT) without contrast is not sensitive enough to rule out CVT in patients with progressive headache.
   
2. Most patients with CVT had risk factors for venous thrombosis. The combination of unexplained headaches with risk factors like oral contraceptives,² systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), or recurrent venous thrombosis justifies the use of CT with contrast or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
   
3. The new . . . [Full text of this article]