Cerebral venous thrombosis and procoagulant factors--a case study.

Cerebral venous thrombosis is a polymorphic clinical entity for which diagnosis has become more frequent with the advent of neuroradiology. The superior sagittal and transverse sinuses are frequently involved, whereas cavernous sinus thrombosis is much less frequent. Inherited resistance to the anticoagulant action of activated protein C (APC resistance), antithrombin deficiency, protein C and S deficiencies, and hyperhomocysteinemia seem to represent major causes of thrombophilia when unusual thromboembolic events (ie, before the age of 45 years) are observed. The authors present the combined occurrence of protein C and protein S deficiencies in a 32-year-old woman, manifested by extensive cerebral venous thrombosis.