Death of a middle-aged man from nontraumatic hemorrhage derived from cerebral venous sinuses and infiltrated through bone defects

Introduction

Arachnoid cyst, a congenital extra-axial lesion, has been implicated in osteolytic lesion and subdural hematoma. Cerebral venous thrombosis occasionally induces subdural hematoma.

Case report

A man in his mid-forties with congenital bone defects was found dead after recumbency for months. Autopsy disclosed acute subdural hemorrhage and intracranial hemorrhage that infiltrated to the right neck through large occipital bone defects. CT demonstrateda high density area in the supratentorial venous sinuses and an infratentorial low-density mass adjacent to the bone defects, suggesting cerebral venous thrombosis and arachnoid cysts, respectively.

Conclusion

This is the first report on death due to nontraumatic extracranial and subdural hemorrhage derived from cerebral venous sinuses and possibly associated with arachnoid cysts and cerebral venous thrombosis.