Cerebral venous thrombosis in a child with iron deficiency anemia and thrombocytosis

We describe a 22-month-old boy with iron deficiency anemia and reactive thrombocytosis who developed vomiting, headache, mental status changes, and seizures. Computed tomography showed infarction of the basal ganglia and thalami. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed cerebral venous thrombosis, delineated the extent of the vascular and associated parenchymal Involvement, showed the infarcts to be hemorrhagic (a finding not imaged by computed tomography due to our patient’s depressed hemoglobin level), and obviated the need for invasive angiography.