Venous Cerebral Infarction Due to Thrombosis of an Isolated Intraventricular Cerebral Varix: A Case Report.

OBJECTIVES: An isolated intraventricular cerebral varix is a rare entity. Although it is generally asymptomatic, there have been reports of symptomatic cases. Here, we report a case of right hemiplegia and aphasia due to venous infarction caused by thrombosis of the intraventricular varix.

CASE PRESENTATION: A 79-year-old woman presented with right-sided hemiplegia and aphasia accompanied by conjugate eye deviation to the left. She had a history of hypertension, dyslipidemia, and asymptomatic isolated cerebral varix located in the left lateral ventricle. Blood analysis indicated no abnormalities in coagulation or fibrinolysis. Plain head computed tomography showed an intraventricular varix in the form of a high-density mass, indicating acute phase thrombosis, and contrast-enhanced computed tomography depicted a filling defect in the varix. In addition, fluid-attenuated inversion recovery imaging showed hyperintense lesions in the deep white matter of the frontal-parietal lobe, indicating venous infarction due to occlusion of the varix of the thalamostriate vein. Glycerol and prophylactic levetiracetam were administered, and she was transferred to another hospital for rehabilitation 23 days after treatment initiation.

CONCLUSION: This is the first reported case in which a typically asymptomatic condition, intraventricular cerebral varix, caused venous infarction due to thrombosis and occlusion of the varix of the thalamostriate vein. Careful selection of the treatment strategy is required on a case-by-case basis because an intraventricular varix can cause both bleeding and infarction, which are treated differently.