Music Therapy Part 1: What is Music Therapy? Music and Medicine On MondayClick Here
Make a Donation

Jugular Vein Thrombosis - Radiology

last modified on: Wed, 01/17/2024 - 14:59

  • Development of an intraluminal thrombus in the internal jugular vein (Scerrati et al. 2021)
  • Can develop at any level of the vein (jugular foramen to the junction with the subclavian vein) (Scerrati et al. 2021)
  • More commonly seen in older and female patients (Hahn et al. 2019)
  • Risk factors include central venous catheter use, radical neck dissection, malignancy, ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, and infection (Drakos et al. 2020)
  • Common symptoms include neck pain, headache, swelling, erythema, fever (Scerrati et al. 2021)
  • IJV may appear smaller than normal in chronic thrombosis or larger than normal in thrombophlebitis
  • On CT: Hyperdense signal is seen without contrast; non-enhancing clot with contrast; wall-thickening, fat-stranding with inflammation; chronic thrombus has well-defined thrombus and possibly surrounding collateral vessels
  • On MR:
    • T1: hypointense collaterals may be seen, thrombus is isointense but may vary with age
    • T2: Acute thrombus is bright, subacute thrombus is dark, edema may be noted with inflammation
    • T2 GRE: May appear as a "blooming" signal (larger than the IJV itself)
    • T1 post-contrast: thrombophlebitis has dark clot, wall-enhancement, and stranding; chronic thrombus shows filling defect and possible collaterals

References

Scerrati A, Menegatti E, Zamboni M, Malagoni AM, Tessari M, Galeotti R, Zamboni P. Internal Jugular Vein Thrombosis: Etiology, Symptomatology, Diagnosis and Current Treatment. Diagnostics (Basel). 2021 Feb 23;11(2):378. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics11020378. PMID: 33672254; PMCID: PMC7926529.

Hahn J, Nordmann-Kleiner M, Hoffmann TK, Greve J. Thrombosis of the internal jugular vein in the ENT-department - Prevalence, causes and therapy: A retrospective analysis. Auris Nasus Larynx. 2019 Aug;46(4):624-629. doi: 10.1016/j.anl.2018.11.009. Epub 2018 Dec 10. PMID: 30545728.

Drakos P, Ford BC, Labropoulos N. A systematic review on internal jugular vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. J Vasc Surg Venous Lymphat Disord. 2020 Jul;8(4):662-666. doi: 10.1016/j.jvsv.2020.03.003. Epub 2020 Apr 19. PMID: 32321692.