Presence of red flags in patients with cerebral venous sinus thrombosis admitted to the emergency department because of headache

Abstract

Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) is a cause of secondary headache with substantial morbimortality. Headache dominates the clinical presentation, but no typical phenotype has been described. We aim to evaluate the presence of red flags in headache in patients with confirmed CVST at the moment of emergency department (ED) presentation. Retrospective STROBE compliant cohort study including patients with confirmed CVST that consulted because of headache at the ED. We analyzed presence and type of red flags at the moment of consult. We evaluated whether CVST was suspected at the moment of imaging request and analyzed delay in the diagnosis. Nineteen patients fulfilled inclusion and exclusion criteria. Mean age was 48.5 years, 47.4% were female. All the studied patients exhibited at least 1 red flag, being abnormal neurological examination the most frequent (79%), followed by the presence of other neurological symptoms (68%), alarm data related with headache phenotype (63%), or risk factors concerning prior medical history (47%). Temporal pattern of the headache was acute in 42.1%, thunderclap in 31.6%, and subacute in 26.3%. In none patient CVST was the specific suspicion when imaging was requested. Median time since headache onset and ED presentation was 84 hours, being different in patients with associated symptoms (48 hours) when compared with isolated headache patients (168 hours). Time since ED presentation and the diagnosis also differed between the 2 groups, being more prolonged in patients with an isolated headache at presentation. Headache attributed with CVST did not exhibit any distinctive phenotype, but all the patients presented some red flag, being abnormal neurological examination the most frequent.