Venous Thrombosis Simulating Arterial Embolization With Major Gangrene

That venous thrombosis may mimic acute arterial thrombosis or embolism and produce major gangrene of an extremity has been suggested by Edwards1and by Scupham.2The latter quotes Pringle3whose two cases, at pathological examination, showed post-traumatic venous thrombosis and patent arterial systems. Since the arterial spasm which produced the ischemia and gangrene may have been post-traumatic and not solely secondary to the venous thrombosis, specific illustration of the speculation of Edwards and Scupham was lacking. The following case illustrates the clinical and pathological occurrence of isolated venous thrombosis producing arterial spasm and major gangrene of an extremity without the slightest clinical suggestion of disease of the vein. Report of a Case A 60-year-old woman, in comma, was admitted to the hospital on Oct. 28, 1949. The patient had been in apparent good health until Oct. 21, when diabetes mellitus and atrial fibrillation were discovered by her