THROMBO-ANGIITIS OBLITERANS

Abstract

For many years after 1879, when von Winiwarter¹first described "a peculiar type of endarteritis, endophlebitis and gangrene of the feet," little attention was paid to this form of peripheral vascular disease. Weiss²and von Manteuffel³contributed studies of the pathologic process, but it was left for Buerger⁴to give a detailed account of all aspects of the entity from both the clinical and the pathologic standpoint. He was the first to point out the thrombotic and inflammatory nature of the process, the involvement of veins as well as of arteries and the characteristic clinical phenomena. He incorporated all these concepts in the name which he gave to the disease, thrombo-angiitis obliterans. An extensive literature now exists on many phases of this malady. However, little is known concerning the fate and especially the mode of death of patients with this condition. Usually only transient phases of