title: Clinicoepidemiological profile of cerebral venous thrombosis in Algarve, Portugal: A retrospective observational study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) is a very uncommon disorder with a wide variety of clinical manifestations. There are few studies describing the clinical and epidemiological profile of CVT in peripheral or rural areas. Over the last decades, the frequency in which this disease is diagnosed has increased due to greater awareness and availability of noninvasive diagnostic techniques.
  
  
  METHODS
  A hospital-based retrospective case review of adult (≥15 years) patients with CVT between 2001 and 2012 is described. 31 patients with confirmed imagiological diagnosis of CVT were included.
  
  
  METHODS
  Statistical analysis was performed using R version 2.15.2. Incidence rate was computed as number of new cases by time. Confidence interval (CI) was set at 95% and P < 0.05 was considered significant.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average annual incidence was 0.84 (CI: 0.58-1.18) to 0.73 (CI: 0.5-1.02) per 100 000 cases for adult population. There were 23 (74%) women and 8 (26%) men. Predominant initial manifestations were headache, followed by altered mental status and seizures. Median diagnostic delay from onset of illness was 8 days. All patients were treated with unfractionated heparin or low-molecular heparin followed by warfarin. Complete recovery occurred in the majority of cases 22 (78.6%) but two patients died during hospitalization.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Albeit with some particularities, the epidemiology and clinical manifestations we found are comparable to what has been reported in western studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Stroke Unit, Centro Hospitalar do Algarve, Faro, Portugal; Department of Biomedical Sciences and Medicine, University of Algarve, Faro, Portugal.
authors.forename: Hipólito
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nzwalo
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Centro Hospitalar do Algarve, Faro, Portugal.
authors.forename: Fátima
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rodrigues
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences and Medicine, University of Algarve, Faro, Portugal.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Carneiro
authors.affiliation: Clinical Pathology Laboratory, Centro Hospitalar do Algarve, Faro, Portugal.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Macedo
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Stroke Unit, Centro Hospitalar do Algarve, Faro, Portugal.
authors.forename: Fátima
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Stroke Unit, Centro Hospitalar do Algarve, Faro, Portugal.
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Basílio
keywords: Algarve; cerebral venous thrombosis; epidemiology; peripheral areas