Dabigatran in the Treatment of Extensive Cerebral Venous Thrombosis: A Case Report

Background: Cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) is a rare type of cerebrovascular disease associated with a 15% rate of death or function dependence. The mainstay of treatment for CVT is systemic anticoagulation, despite venous hemorrhagic infarction. Vitamin K antagonists have long been the only available option for anticoagulation; however, the past few years have brought the development of many new target-specific drugs, collectively called non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs). Although emerging evidence suggests NOACs have an acceptable safety and tolerability profile in CVT, there are limited data available and no randomized controlled trials have been performed to date. Case Presentation: This describes the case of a patient with CVT occurring during an infection who was successfully treated with a NOAC, dabigatran, after a difficult time on warfarin. Conclusions: A case of extensive and deep CVT was identified. Dabigatran 150 mg treatment twice daily in this patient resulted in no additional damage to the brain. This case study illustrates that the use of NOACs such as dabigatran can be safe and effective in patients with CVT.