Keywords:
Obstruction / Occlusion, Perception image, Education, Ultrasound-Spectral Doppler, MR-Angiography, MR, Vascular, Musculoskeletal system, Musculoskeletal soft tissue
Authors:
R. Leao, L. C. Zattar-Ramos, E. L. Bizetto, M. B. Rodrigues, D. T. Amaral, R. Y. Fernandes, C. O. Kurimori, P. V. P. Helito, M. F. Correa, C. F. A. Cavalcanti; Sao Paulo/BR
DOI:
10.1594/essr2016/P-0116
Background
Patients with venous thrombosis may present with non-specific pain of an apparent musculoskeletal nature. This clinical symptoms may delay the accurate diagnosis of a venous thrombosis,
that may frequently be mistaken for a muscle strain or an articular derangement.
Venous thrombosis is often diagnosed by Doppler ultrasound,
in a classic clinical context of swelling,
tenderness and increased limb temperature.
In this scenario such diagnosis is expected and does not bring difficulties.
However,
when patients with venous thrombosis present with non-specific pain and when there is a low pre-test suspicion of thrombosis,
such as in patients with no clear predisposing factors,
the physician is specially induced to request a MRI examination,
under the presumptive diagnosis of musculoskeletal injury.
Compounding the initial clinical misleading impression,
reactive muscle edema-like changes may predominate on the MRI study and overshadow the presence of venous thrombosis.
This study aims to illustrate the cases of venous thrombosis in patients who performed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) due to suspicion of musculoskeletal pathology.