Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis in patients with inflammatory bowel disease: a retrospective study

BACKGROUND: Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) is a rare and devastating complication of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Early diagnose and prompt treatment could improve prognosis.AIM: The aim of our study was to investigate the clinical data and risk factors of inflammatory bowel disease with diagnosis of CVST. METHODS: All data of IBD patients were collected from July 2013 and September 2020. Clinical data, risk factors and prognosis were compared between CVST in IBD patients and IBD control group. RESULTS: The incidence of CVST in our study was 0.48%. The mean age of IBD patients with CVST was 34.9 years. Average disease duration of IBD was 4 years when cerebrovascular events occur. Clinical presentation of CVST included headache (73.1%), vomiting (30.8%), limb dysmetria (26.9%), speech impairment (11.5%), blurred vision (7.7%), Epileptic seizures (7.7%) and drowsiness (3.8%). The most common location for CVST was transverse sinus (61.5%), followed by superior sagittal sinus (30.8%). Anemia, low albumin and elevated D-dimer were independent predictors of CVST in IBD patients. Anticoagulation therapy was effective. Prognosis of IBD patients with CVST was worse than those without CVST.CONCLUSION: Early identification the risk of and clinical features of CVST in IBD patients is important. Prompt antithrombotic therapy is safe and effective treatment.