Thromboangiitis Obliterans (Buerger's Disease): A Young Woman's Rare Case and Current Knowledge

Abstract In this paper, we described the clinical features and the typical vascular imaging picture of a rare case of thromboangiitis obliterans (TAO) in a 47-year-old, young, Caucasian woman without relevant medical records except for smoking habits and admitted to our Department of Internal Medicine with a necrotic lesion of the first and third toes of the right foot. After a rapid clinical and instrumental evaluation, necrotic tissue debridement was performed and the patient was treated with Iloprost infusion and antibiotics (for overlapping infection) with clinical improvement. Moreover, we summarized the current knowledge about the disease making an update and critical examination of the literature. TAO, also known as Buerger's disease, is a rare disease. In recent decades, the incidence of TAO has decreased in Europe and the United States in men but several studies have reported an increase in the prevalence of disease in women. TAO is a segmental nonatherosclerotic inflammatory disorder that involves primarily small and medium arteries, veins, and nerves of the extremities with limb ischemia, pain, claudication, ulcers, and necrosis that can lead to amputation. Smoking is considered the main risk factor, but despite that, more than 100 years have passed since the first description of the disease by Leo Buerger, and knowledge on pathogenesis, precipitating factors, and therapy remain still unclear.