Matrix Metalloproteinase-9 Levels are Associated with Brain Lesion and Persistent Venous Occlusion in Patients with Cerebral Venous Thrombosis.

Background:  Elucidating mechanisms of brain damage in cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) would be instrumental to develop targeted therapies and improve prognosis prediction. Matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), a gelatinase that degrades major components of the basal lamina, has been associated to blood-brain barrier disruption. We aimed to assess, in patients with CVT, the temporal change in serum concentrations of MMP-9 and its association with key imaging and clinical outcomes.

Acute symptomatic seizures in cerebral venous thrombosis.

Objective: To identify characteristics, predictors, and outcomes of acute symptomatic seizures (ASS) in cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT), we investigated 1,281 consecutive adult patients with CVT included from 12 hospitals within the International CVT Consortium.

Methods: We defined ASS as any seizure between symptom onset and 7 days after diagnosis of CVT. We stratified ASS into prediagnosis and solely postdiagnosis ASS.

Early Recanalization in Patients With Cerebral Venous Thrombosis Treated With Anticoagulation.

Background and Purpose- The hypothesis that venous recanalization prevents progression of venous infarction is not established in patients with cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT). Evidence is also scarce on the association between residual symptoms, particularly headache, and the recanalization grade. We aimed to assess, in patients with CVT treated with standard anticoagulation, (1) the rate of early venous recanalization, (2) whether lack of early recanalization was predictor of parenchymal brain lesion progression, and (3) the prevalence and features of persistent headache according to the recanalization grade achieved.

Brush Sign Is Associated With Increased Severity in Cerebral Venous Thrombosis.

Background and Purpose- The brush sign (BS) is an abnormally accentuated signal drop of the subependymal and deep medullary veins in paramagnetic-sensitive magnetic resonance sequences, previously described in acute ischemic stroke. We aimed to describe the BS in patients with thrombosis of the cerebral veins and sinuses and explore its association with clinical severity, thrombosis extent, parenchymal brain lesion, and clinical prognosis. Methods- We assessed consecutive adult patients admitted to 2 university hospitals with diagnosis of acute thrombosis of the cerebral veins and sinuses and imaging assessment with magnetic resonance imaging, including paramagnetic-sensitive sequences.