Discussion and review of the literature following the case of a young man with Down's syndrome and cerebral venous thrombosis

Abstract

This review and discussion of the current literature is based on the case of a young man with Down's syndrome (DS) and cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT).

Clinical case

Twenty-seven-year-old male who presented with headache, vomiting and left hemiparesis. After finding signs consistent with cerebral venous thrombosis on neuroimaging, anticoagulant treatment was started, and eventuated in a favorable clinical outcome.

Discussion

DS patients are predisposed to the occurrence of embolic stroke secondary to congenital heart disease. However, the causes of CVT in DS are uncertain, but probably have a multifactorial origin. There are to date two published cases of CVT in patients with DS.