Abstract
The pathogenesis of thrombophlebitis migrans is as unknown as the etiology of Buerger’s disease (BD). In the past, thrombophlebitis migrans was a major criterion used in the diagnosis of BD, whereas today it is not as important as before and it is often forgotten to be asked about from patients with BD. In this project, during a 22-month prospective study on 86 patients suffering from BD, 65.4% had the history or sign of thrombophlebitis migrans, which in 25.6% of them, it was the first presentation of the disease and in 4.7% of them, it was the main cause of complaint. Thrombophlebitis migrans had initially occurred 9 years before the patient showed any sign of the disease (with the time range of a maximum of 22 years and a minimum of 4 months). In 45% of patients who had recommenced cigarette smoking, thrombophlebitis migrans occurred about 1–4 months before the new onset of their acute ischemic signs. Superficial thrombophlebitis migrans can be considered as a warning sign for BD onset in Asian young male smokers. With regard to the variety in the clinical feature and localization of appearance of thrombophlebitis migrans in the studied patients and its unknown pathogenesis, there should be more studies and researches toward understanding the nature of BD and thrombophlebitis migrans as its footprint.
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Notes
Mashhad Vascular Surgery Research Center (MvasRc) is located in the Imam Reza Hospital in Mashhad, the second biggest city after Tehran, in the north-east of Iran and in Khorasan Province. Khorasan is the largest province in Iran with 302,966 km2 and, according to the 2001 census, has a population of over 6 million. Mashhad is the center of this province, so the studied patients were from the urban and rural areas of Khorasan Province who were referred to MVasRc. In addition to the patients from this province, there were some patients from the neighboring province (Golestan Province) at the Caspian Sea during this study.
Indices for poverty: (1) basic requirements for living such as food and clothing; (2) hygiene and tidiness; (3) level of education; (4) occupation; and (5) adequate work (duration, quality, and income).
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Acknowledgement
We would like to appreciate the support of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences and Dr. A. R. Moosavi for preparation of this manuscript and finally Dr. R. Assady for his helpful cooperation in this project.
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Fazeli, B., Modaghegh, H., Ravrai, H. et al. Thrombophlebitis migrans as a footprint of Buerger’s disease: a prospective–descriptive study in north-east of Iran. Clin Rheumatol 27, 55–57 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-007-0652-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-007-0652-8