Japanese encephalitis accompanied by cerebral venous sinus thrombosis: a case report.
BACKGROUND
Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) is a relatively rare cerebrovascular condition which accounts for 0.5% of all strokes. Risk of CVST has been documented in patients with numerous conditions including central nervous system infections, however, Japanese encephalitis (JE, epidemic encephalitis type B) with CVST has not been reported previously.


METHODS
Here, we present a case of JE with CVST in a 17-year-old man. On admission, the patient was initially diagnosed as intracranial infection, and soon after, brain magnetic resonance (MR) imaging (MRI) and MR Venography (MRV) confirmed the diagnosis of CVST. Moreover, the blood JE-specific IgM antibody which proved weakly positive at first, turned positive one week later. Consequently, our patient was diagnosed as CVST accompanied by JE. Anticoagulant and anti-infective therapy were initiated, which eventually lead to gradual recovery of the patient.


CONCLUSIONS
To our knowledge, this is the first case report of CVST associated with JE. MRI and MRV represent a prime method for the diagnosis of CVST, while the positivity of JE virus IgM antibody, especially increased antibody levels within a short period, is of great significance to diagnose JE. The early diagnosis and timely treatment of this potentially lethal condition would improve its prognosis significantly.
Department of Neurology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 1277 Jiefang Road, Wuhan 430022, Hubei, China.
Min
M
Jia
Nian
N
Xiong
Jinsha
J
Huang
Youpei
Y
Wang
Xiaowei
X
Zhang
Zhentao
Z
Zhang
Xuebing
X
Cao
Zhicheng
Z
Lin
Tao
T
Wang
D000293:Adolescent; D000925:Anticoagulants / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004672:Encephalitis, Japanese / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012851:Sinus Thrombosis, Intracranial / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D000925:Anticoagulants; D000998:Antiviral Agents