La radiologia medica

, Volume 121, Issue 5, pp 329–341 | Cite as

Cerebral sinovenous thrombosis (CSVT) in children: what the pediatric radiologists need to know

  • Chiara Carducci
  • Giovanna Stefania Colafati
  • Lorenzo Figà-Talamanca
  • Daniela Longo
  • Tommaso Lunardi
  • Francesco Randisi
  • Bruno Bernardi
PAEDIATRIC RADIOLOGY
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:

Abstract

Cerebral sinovenous thrombosis (CSVT) is a relatively uncommon and potentially life-threatening condition in childhood, occurring in various clinical settings. Nowadays, however, it is increasingly diagnosed as related to many causes, likely due to greater clinical awareness and improvement of neuroradiologic techniques. The prompt diagnosis is an important goal to significantly reduce the risk of acute complications and long-term sequelae. The purpose of this narrative overview is to provide a useful educational tool in daily clinical practice for radiologists with a broad perspective of CSVT including a discussion of more common potential pitfalls related to misinterpretation of images in children. This paper will also review the normal venous anatomy, its variants, risk factors that contribute to cause CSVT (neonates with their specific causes of CSVT are not included in this review) and the practical imaging feature of cerebral sinovenous thrombosis on MRI and CT. Finally, a brief overview of frequent and severe CSVT conditions in children with key points in imaging is shown.

Keywords

Cerebral sinovenous thrombosis Children CT venography MR venography TOF 
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Notes

Compliance with ethical standards

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical standards

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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Copyright information

© Italian Society of Medical Radiology 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  • Chiara Carducci
    • 1
  • Giovanna Stefania Colafati
    • 1
  • Lorenzo Figà-Talamanca
    • 1
  • Daniela Longo
    • 1
  • Tommaso Lunardi
    • 1
  • Francesco Randisi
    • 1
  • Bruno Bernardi
    • 1
  1. 1.Neuroradiology Unit, Department of ImagingBambino Gesù Children’s Hospital IRCCSRomeItaly

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