Abstract

BACKGROUND:
Cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) is the presence of a blood clot in the dural venous sinuses, which drain blood from the brain. D-dimer is a specific product of the degradation of fibrin clots that can reflect the activity of coagulation and the fibrinolytic system. 
OBJECTIVE:
To assess the role of plasma D-dimer, as well as, the sensitivity and specificity of this assay in diagnosis of cerebral venous thrombosis.
PATIENTS AND METHODS:
This is a case-control study which included 50 adult patients diagnosed with CVT. Other 50 age- and sex-matched healthy subjects were enrolled in the study as control group. Demographic data were collected from each participant, while the clinical data of cases were collected separately. Blood samples were collected from each participant in sodium citrate tubes, and a ready commercial kit was used to measure plasma levels of D-dimer.  Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was employed to evaluate the diagnostic value, sensitivity and specificity of D-dimer in                          the discrimination of CVT healthy controls.
RESULTS:
Mean plasma level of d-dimer in CVT patients and controls were 536.7± 102.34 ng/mL and 318.4± 88.71 ng/mL respectively with a significant difference (p= 0.029). The sensitivity and specificity of the test at cut off value of 400 ng/mL were 0.88 and 0.86 respectively, indicating a very good discrimination value.
CONCLUSION:
Measurement of D-dimer can be a reliable tool for diagnosis of CVT, especially in patients with acute and subacute disease.