title: Are patients with multiple sclerosis protected from thrombophlebitis and pulmonary embolism?
abstract: To study the incidence of deep venous thrombophlebitis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE) in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), charts of 228 subjects with multiple sclerosis who constituted 1986 hospital admissions to the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center were reviewed, covering a 3 1/2-year period. The records were investigated for any other hospitalization for deep venous thrombophlebitis and pulmonary embolism. No case of pulmonary embolism or deep venous thrombophlebitis was found. There were over 57,416 non-MS-related admissions during the same interval. Among these patients there were 175 with PE and 258 with DVT. The presence of lower extremity spastic disease may have prevented clotting. This statistically low incidence of thromboembolic events in MS is less than expected, and further studies are warranted.
authors.affiliation: Division of General Internal Medicine and Pulmonary Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kaufman
authors.forename: B O
authors.initials: BO
authors.lastname: Khatri
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Riendl
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000150:complications*; D011655:Pulmonary Embolism / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013924:Thrombophlebitis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D014922:Wisconsin