cavernous sinus thrombosis

cavernous sinus thrombosis - Blockage of a venous sinus (a channel for venous blood deep in the skull behind an eye socket) by a thrombus (abnormal blood clot).

The condition is usually a complication of a bacterial infection in an area drained by the veins entering the sinus. Such infections include cellulitis of the face, infections of the mouth, eye, or middle ear, sinusitis, and septicaemia.

Symptoms include severe headache, high fever, pain and loss of sensation in and above the affected eye, and proptosis (protrusion of the eyeball). Vision may become blurred and eye movements paralysed due to pressure on the optic nerve and other cranial nerves.

Treatment with antibiotic drugs and anticoagulant drugs can save vision. Left untreated, blindness results, and the infection may prove fatal.