The comparative rarity of gangrene of venous origin prevents widespread recognition of the subtle nature of this insidious disease. The full-blown clinical picture is a dramatic one that has been described with increasing frequency in recent years.1
The case described below demonstrates a rare, fatal variation in which the sudden, complete, thrombotic closure of all the venous channels of an extremity resulted in the trapping of much of the circulating blood volume of the patient in the affected limb. Despite energetic measures, the resulting shock syndrome led to the patient's death.
Report of A Case
A 69-year-old man was admitted to the medical service of the Mount Sinai Hospital on Dec. 17, 1957, with a complaint of increasing pain and swelling of the right leg of two weeks duration. He was known to be a diabetic who had been under treatment for one year and had been seen last