Acta clinica Croatica, Vol. 65. No. 3, 2026.
Case report
https://doi.org/10.20471/acc.2026.65.03.15
Cerebral Venous Thrombosis in Slovenia: A Case Series Analysis Showing a Significant Decrease in Fatal Outcomes
Jan Kobal
; Department of Neurology, University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
*
Lucijan Kobal
; Department of Radiology, General hospital Novo mesto, Novo mesto, Slovenia
Živa Melik
; Institute of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
* Corresponding author.
Abstract
Cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) is a rare cerebrovascular disease with a highly
variable presentation and a variety of predisposing/provoking factors. Mortality
is generally low, between 5% and 2–3%, and in some studies it was zero.
To find out the mortality rate at the Department of Neurology, University
Medical Centre Ljubljana, we analyzed the medical records of patients treated
at our department from January 2008 to December 2022. There were 98 CVT
patients hospitalized during this time.
In 4 of the patients (3 women), CVT ended fatally, which accounts for a mortality
rate of 4.08%. Each patient presented different predisposing/predicting
factors ranging from pregnancy/hormonal contraception to interventional surgery
and COVID-19 vaccination. The common clinical features of the patients
were aggravating headache, bilateral neurological signs, and an altered mental
status leading to coma. An elevated D-dimer concentration was a common laboratory
finding, and a hemorrhagic venous infarction was found radiologically
in all the patients.
The mortality rate lowered during the observation time, dropping from 12%
in the years 2008–2012 to 1.37% in the years 2013–2022 (P = 0.022). We concluded
that follow up, learning from previous mistakes, and a closer collaboration
between the neurology and neuroradiology wards led to increased vigilance of
the attending specialists and helped to improve the treatment of CVT.
Keywords
Cerebral venous thrombosis; Increased D-dimer; Hemorrhagic venous infarction; Lowering fatal outcomes
Hrčak ID:
351397
URI
Publication date:
28.9.2026.
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