ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) is a rare disease and it has different etiologies. Inherited or acquired prothrombotic state plays a key role in the development of CVT.METHODS: A 28-year-old man who presented to our emergency department with persistent headache and accompanied by complaints of nausea and vomiting over a week. Neurologic examination revealed bilateral papilledema. Brain computed tomography showed a hyperdense area on the posterior part of the occipital lobe. Brain magnetic resonance imaging and magnetic resonance venography revealed thrombosis of CVT. Homozygous mutations were found for methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR). MTHFR CG677T gene mutation and blood tests showed elevated homocysteine levels on the etiological screening. There was no other etiology for CVT.RESULTS: Headache and other complaints were improved after treatment of heparin, warfarin, and vitamin B12. No recurrence of symptoms was observed upon outpatient follow-up.CONCLUSION: Since CVT is an important cause of headache, we recommend etiology screening for patients who present with CVT for MTHFR gene mutations and family counseling should be provided.
ABSTRACT
The association of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and lung parenchyma abnormalities has been shown in previous studies by radiological and pulmonary function tests. Technetium-99m diethylene triamine pentaacetic acid ((99m)Tc-DTPA) dynamic lung scanning is an easy, noninvasive method to assess alveolar-capillary barrier permeability. We aimed to study the abnormalities in pulmonary clearance of (99m)Tc-DTPA in patients with AS, and the presence of any correlation between this clearance and the radiological and pulmonary function tests. We studied twenty-one nonsmoker patients with AS who were compared to 21 age and sex matched healthy volunteers. All subjects underwent pulmonary function tests and pulmonary scintigraphy with (99m)Tc-DTPA to evaluate pulmonary clearance. Clearance half time (T(1/2)) of (99m)Tc-DTPA through the lungs was calculated by placing a monoexponential fit on the 30 min activity curves. High resolution CT and pulmonary function tests were performed for each patient. Our results showed the following: Spirometric parameters of forced vital capecity (FVC) and theratio of forced expiratory value in 1sec/FVC (FEV1%) scores were worse in patients compared to the control group (P<0.005 and P<0.05, respectively). Clearance half time was longer in AS group than in the control group (58.45+/-7.59 and 51.62+/-4.79 min, respectively; P<0.05). There was a negative correlation between T(1/2) value and FEV1% (r=-0.876, P< 0.01), of AS patients and the control group. Additionally, there were moderate positive correlation between T(1/2) and FVC (r=0.705, P<0.001), weak positive correlation between T(1/2) and FEF2575 (r=0.493, P<0.05), and T(1/2) and DLCO (r=0.444, P<0.05). A positive correlation was found between the duration of the disease and T(1/2) (r=0.44, P<0.05). In conclusion, longer T(1/2) values and lower FVC values in nonsmoker AS patients may suggest not only the pulmonary involvement in AS but also the duration of the disease.
