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(Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology. 2008;28:373.)
© 2008 American Heart Association, Inc.

Venous Thromboembolism: Mechanisms, Treatment and Public Awareness

A Clinical Perspective of Venous Thromboembolism

Stephan Moll

From the Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology-Oncology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill.

Correspondence to Stephan Moll, Associate Professor, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology-Oncology, Chapel Hill NC 27599-7035. E-mail smoll@med.unc.edu

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

	Introduction

 
A large number of individuals develop venous thromboembolism (VTE) every year.¹ Each patient’s episode of DVT or PE is, naturally, unique. To highlight a variety of aspects about VTE a compilation case is presented that is composed of clinical data and images from several real patients.

	Clinical Presentation

 
History of Present Illness
A 36-year-old woman presents to the Emergency Department with severe shortness of breath and moderately intense anterior chest pain, worse on deep inspiration, which had started suddenly that morning. She also reports a 6-wk history of mild shortness of breath, for which she had been seen 4 wk earlier by her primary care physician who diagnosed her with "asthma." Bronchodilators and steroids were prescribed but led to no significant improvement in her symptoms. She also gives a history of mild left calf pain that had started about 2 months earlier without preceding trauma, immobilization, or surgery. Her primary care physician had seen her and prescribed Ibuprofen for a "pulled muscle." However, in the 1 week before her present presentation her leg symptoms worsened, and she had increased diffuse leg pain and swelling and slightly bluish discoloration of the whole leg.

Her past medical history is only significant for an appendectomy at age 16. She has never been pregnant. She is on no medications, except for an estrogen and progestin-containing oral contraceptive, started 10 months earlier. She does not smoke. There is no family history of venous thromboembolism, although the patient reports that her paternal grandmother had a "swollen leg for many years" until she . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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