{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,27]],"date-time":"2025-08-27T11:10:20Z","timestamp":1756293020618,"version":"3.44.0"},"reference-count":41,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,30]],"date-time":"2025-07-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1753833600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Stroke"],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Background<\/jats:title><jats:p>Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) is a rare cause of stroke that is more common in young, especially female, adults and can be challenging to diagnose due to its frequently non-specific presentation and diverse risk factors. Most cases are idiopathic, and international guidelines do not recommend routine investigations for underlying thrombophilia. Timely diagnosis, with prompt neuroimaging and guideline-based treatment, leads to good outcomes. However, in the literature on CVST from sub-Saharan Africa, the gap is substantial, with the few cases described as being related to systemic and\/or brain infections. We describe here the largest cohort of CVST from the region with novel findings that may be relevant to everyday clinical practice.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>We conducted a retrospective cross-sectional study of patients diagnosed with CVST from 2010 to 2022 at our tertiary regional neurology referral center in Nairobi, Kenya.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>We identified 122 cases: 67.2% (82\/122) were female, 80.3% (98\/122) were Black African, and the median (interquartile range) age was 36.8 (31.5\u201345.7) years. Apart from headaches (86.9%, 106\/122), the most common presenting symptoms were visual disturbance (26.2%, 32\/122) and seizures (23.8%, 29\/122); 11 patients developed seizures later. Intracranial hemorrhage with and without venous infarction occurred in 27.9% (34\/122) of patients. New diagnoses of thrombophilia were made in 30.3% (37\/122). Other causes were HIV, hepatitis B\/C, or other brain infections (18.0%, 22\/118); pregnancy, including postpartum (14.6%, 12\/82); contraceptive use (8.5%, 7\/82); and malignancy (8.1%, 10\/122). The most common treatment was with warfarin in 50% (61\/122), followed by rivaroxaban (29.5%, 36\/122) and dabigatran [14.8% (18\/122)]. Complete thrombus resolution occurred in only 53.9% (55\/102) at follow-up scanning (at a median of 178 days). In terms of outcomes (modified Rankin Score [mRS]), 32.8% (40\/122) had an mRS score = 0, 59.9% (73\/122) had an mRS score = 1\u20132, and there was one fatality who also had concurrent systemic malignancy.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>Thrombophilia was more prevalent in our cohort of CVST than infections, which is a novel finding compared to what has been published about CVST from sub-Saharan Africa. Most patients were managed with appropriate anticoagulants, but only about half the patients had complete resolution of the CVST at last follow-up. We therefore recommend that thrombophilia should be routinely investigated in all patients with CVST in our setting.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fstro.2025.1599755","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,27]],"date-time":"2025-08-27T10:44:41Z","timestamp":1756291481000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Clinico-epidemiological characteristics of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis in Kenya: a retrospective case series"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"4","author":[{"given":"Taby","family":"Siika","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jaskirat","family":"Sokhi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Juzar","family":"Hooker","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Sheila","family":"Waa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Anne","family":"Mwirigi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jasmit","family":"Shah","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Dilraj Singh","family":"Sokhi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","first-page":"551","volume":"41","author":"Arbela","year":"1964","journal-title":"Cavernous sinus thrombosis. 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