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Purpose: The aim of this study is to evaluate the presence and prognostic impact of early seizures in cerebral venous sinus thrombosis patients (CVST).Method: VENOST is a retrospective and prospective national multicenter observational study. CVST patients with or without epileptic seizures (ES) were analyzed and compared in terms of demographic and imaging data, causative factors, clinical variables, and prognosis in a total of 1126 patients.Results: The mean age of the patients in the ES group was 39.73 ± 12.64 and 40.17 ± 14.02 years in the non-ES group (p > 0.05). Epileptic seizures were more common (76.6 %) in females (p < 0.001). Early ES occurred in 269 of 1126 patients (23.9 %). Epileptic seizures mainly presented in the acute phase (71.4 %) of the disease (p < 0.001). Majority of these (60.5 %) were in the first 24 h of the CVST. The most common neurological signs were focal neurologic deficits (29.9 %) and altered consciousness (31.4 %) in the ES group. Superior sagittal sinus (SSS) and cortical veins (CV) involvement were the most common sites of thrombosis and the mostly related etiology were found puerperium in seizure group (30.3 % vs 13.9 %). Patients with seizures had worse outcome in the first month of the disease (p < 0.001) but these did not have any influence thereafter.Conclusions: In this largest CVST cohort (VENOST) reported female sex, presence of focal neurological deficits and altered consciousness, thrombosis of the SSS and CVs, hemorrhagic infarction were risk factors for ES occurrence in patients with CVST. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Based on a number of small observational studies, cerebral venous sinus thrombosis has diverse clinical and imaging features, risk factors, and variable outcome. In a large, multicenter cerebral venous thrombosis (VENOST) study, we sought to more precisely characterize the clinical characteristics of Caucasian patients.Methods: All data for the VENOST study were collected between the years 2000 and 2015 from the clinical follow-up files. Clinical and radiological characteristics, risk factors, and outcomes were compared in terms of age and sex distribution.Results: Among 1144 patients 68% were women, and in older age group (>50 years) male patients were more prevalent (16.6% versus 27.8%). The most frequent symptoms were headache (89.4%) and visual field defects (28.9%) in men, and headache (86.1%) and epileptic seizures (26.8%) in women. Gynecological factors comprised the largest group in women, in particular puerperium (18.3%). Prothrombotic conditions (26.4%), mainly methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase mutation (6.3%) and Factor V Leiden mutation (5.1%), were the most common etiologies in both genders. 8.1% of patients had infection-associated and 5.2% had malignancy-related etiology that was significantly higher in men and older age group. Parenchymal involvement constitutively hemorrhagic infarcts, malignancy, and older age was associated with higher Rankin score. Epileptic seizures had no effect on prognosis.Conclusions: Clinical and radiological findings were consistent with previous larger studies but predisposing factors were different with a higher incidence of puerperium. Oral contraceptive use was not a prevalent risk factor in our cohort. Malignancy, older age, and hemorrhagic infarcts had worse outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Tadalafil is a selective phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE-5) inhibitor approved for the treatment of erectile dysfunction. Less is known about the electroencephalography (EEG) effects of PDE-5 inhibitors, and the present study, therefore, examined the risk of EEG abnormalities associated with tadalafil. Method: EEG recordings from 35 erectile dysfunction patients taking tadalafil (20 mg) were graded for severity of EEG abnormalities (at admission, 2 and 48 hours after tadalafil administration). Results: At admission, there were no EEG abnormalities. At second EEG, abnormalities occurred in 12 (34.3%) of the 35 patients. Eight (22.9%) patients had mild and four (11.4%) patients had moderate EEG abnormalities. At third EEG, one (2.9%) patient had mild and one (2.9%) patient had moderate EEG abnormalities. Conclusion: PDE-5 inhibitors may produce EEG abnormalities. Although the exact role of PDE in altering susceptibility to seizure remains unclear, epileptic seizures may occur during treatment with PDE inhibitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]