Venous thromboangiitis associated with regional enteritis.
Thromboembolic complications occurring in patients with Crohn's disease are increasingly reported and are associated with a high mortality. The mechanism by which the thrombogenic process occurs is unclear. As recent findings suggest that Crohn's disease is a chronic vasculitis with multifocal gastrointestinal infarctions secondary to an imbalance of the cellular hemostatic pathway, extradigestive thrombotic complications might be mediated by the same vascular immune reaction. We report an unusual case of recurrent venous thrombosis associated with regional enteritis, the main point of interest being two-fold: first, this case provides a morphological evidence for an angiitic process as the cause of extradigestive thrombosis; second, the gastrointestinal disease remained subclinical for more than four years although the patient developed major venous thrombotic complications.
Motte
S
S
Department of Vascular Surgery, Erasme University Hospital, Brussels, Belgium.
Flamme
F
F
Depierreux
M
M
Wautrecht
J C
JC
Van Gossum
A
A
Dereume
J P
JP
D000328:Adult; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D012008:Recurrence; D012851:Sinus Thrombosis, Intracranial / Q000209:etiology*; D013924:Thrombophlebitis / Q000209:etiology*; D013997:Time Factors; D014657:Vasculitis / Q000209:etiology*