Case Report: Cerebral Venous Sinus Thrombosis in a Young Child With SARS-CoV-2 Infection: The Italian Experience

Paola Silvestri; Anna Clemente; Alberto Spalice; Alessandra Febbo; Luigi Matera; Fabiana Accardo; Maria Antonietta Barbieri; Alberto Villani; Fabio Midulla

doi:10.3389/fneur.2022.861345

Case Report: Cerebral Venous Sinus Thrombosis in a Young Child With SARS-CoV-2 Infection: The Italian Experience

Front Neurol. 2022 Mar 31:13:861345. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2022.861345. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Paola Silvestri¹, Anna Clemente¹, Alberto Spalice¹, Alessandra Febbo¹, Luigi Matera¹, Fabiana Accardo¹, Maria Antonietta Barbieri², Alberto Villani³, Fabio Midulla¹

Affiliations

¹ Maternal-Infantile and Urological Science Department, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
² Department of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy.
³ Academic Department of Pediatrics, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy.

Abstract

Introduction: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in pediatric patients is usually characterized by fever, dry cough, and fatigue, or is asymptomatic and rarely presents with pneumonia. On the other hand, cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) could be a neurological sequela of the prothrombotic state triggered by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) both in adults and children.

Case report: We present a case of a 15-year-old male child who was obese and had mild neurocognitive impairment. He was admitted to the pediatric emergency department and then diagnosed with CVST during SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Conclusion: During the COVID-19 pandemic, in patients presenting with neurological manifestations of CVST (headache, alteration of consciousness, focal deficit, or signs of endocranial hypertension), it is advisable to look for a current or recent infection of SARS-CoV-2, regardless of the presence of respiratory symptoms. In our patient, ongoing SARS-CoV-2 infection represents the only prothrombotic risk factor underlying the neurological disease.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2 infection; cerebral thrombosis; pediatric; stroke.

Publication types

Case Reports