LOCAL THROMBOLYTIC THERAPY IN DEEP CEREBRAL VENOUS THROMBOSIS

Thrombosis of the deep cerebral venous system is a rare entity with a very poor prognosis. We report two patients with thrombosis of the int ernal cerebral veins and vein of Galen who responded to local urokinas e. We review all 49 cases of deep cerebral venous thrombosis in the En glish literature. The mortality rate for patients treated with either TV heparin or local thrombolytics was 13% compared with 48% in untreat ed patients (p = 0.037). Based on this retrospective review of the lit erature and our two cases, we support the use of heparin or local thro mbolytics in individual cases of deep cerebral venous thrombosis.