A Puzzling Diagnosis of Cerebral Vein Thrombosis in a COVID-19-Vaccinated Patient

Cureus. 2022 Jun 11;14(6):e25860. doi: 10.7759/cureus.25860. eCollection 2022 Jun.

Abstract

Cerebral vein thrombosis (CVT) is a rare condition equivalent to deep vein thrombosis of the intracranial veins. Delayed diagnosis will result in severe and disabling complications. We report a case of a 59-year-old man with CVT with no significant past medical or surgical history. On admission, he reported right-sided numbness and weakness concerns, preceded by the sudden onset of bilateral vision loss and dysarthria. Magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scans confirmed the diagnosis of CVT. The most interesting relative risk factor was flying overseas twice a month for the last 10 years; each flight was longer than eight hours. Another possible contributing factor to our patient's condition was polycythemia, with a hemoglobin level of 19, but the most questionable and puzzling is the recent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination two months, eight months, and one year prior to admission. Our case highlights a rare COVID-19 vaccine-related CVT diagnosis and that close monitoring for new symptoms and signs is vital to prevent life-threatening complications, herniation, and hemorrhagic transformation.

Keywords: ards (acute respiratory distress syndrome); cerebral vein thrombosis (cvt); covid-19 respiratory failure; covid-19 vaccine; covid-19 vaccine side-effects; covid19; high altitude pulmonary edema; high flow nasal cannula (hfnc); stroke.

Publication types

  • Case Reports