Cerebral Venous Thrombosis - A New Diagnosis in Travel Medicine?

Cerebral venous thrombosis is a syndrome seen in association with a large number of disease processes. The commonest reported causes in adults are oral contraception,1 pregnancy and complications associated with the postpartum period,2 systemic malignancy,3 and infection.4 In approximately 20% of adult cases reported during the past 20 years no etiology was established.5 Cerebral venous thrombosis can be caused by similar mechanisms, such as venous thrombosis, occurring elsewhere in the body, e.g., blood vessel wall alterations attributable to inflammation, infection, or invasion of malignant cells, as well as from changes in blood flow due to dehydration and changes in the coagulability of the blood (e.g., from use of oral contraception). PC Gates and HJM Barnett list 38 causes of cerebral venous thrombosis that were proven by angiography or autopsy. One item on their list was dehydration/ hyperpyrexia.5 Recently thrombosis of the venae saphena or femoralis/iliaca has been reported to occur in long distance air travelers.6 We would like to report on five patients (out of 15) in whom cerebral venous thrombosis was causatively linked with either long distance air travel alone, air travel and diarrhea, or air travel and exposure to tropical heat.