DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2021.v09i05.007

Pages: 658-662

Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) is a rare form of stroke and carries a high rate of mortality in the acute phase. A higher incidence is found in women in comparison to men. Several risk factors have been recognized in females including pregnancy, puerperium, oral contraceptive (OC) pill usage, infections, inflammatory diseases, and thrombophilia. Headache due to raised intracranial tension has been described as the most common presenting symptom. The symptoms may be highly non-specific and misleading, carrying every possibility of a missed/delayed diagnosis which, if prove fatal, may possibly raise the question of medical malpractice. Although many case studies are available in the clinical literature, autopsy reports over CVST-related deaths may be found on a fringe only. A medicolegal case highlighting the sudden death of 24 years old young female is hereby reported in which an autopsy revealed multiple fresh antemortem thrombi in majority of the intracranial venous sinuses. Bilateral cerebral infarctions were found upon sectioning of the brain. The recent usage of the OC pills seemed to be the most likely culprit.