CHRONIC PROGRESSIVE OCCLUSION OF THE INFERIOR VENA CAVA AND THE RENAL AND PORTAL VEINS

Abstract

The following case of progressive thrombosis of the inferior vena cava and the renal and portal veins is reported because (1) the condition is exceedingly rare, (2) the patient presented the clinical picture of the nephrotic syndrome and (3) pyelograms taken after intravenous injection of diodrast were suggestive of polycystic disease of the kidneys. REPORT OF CASE M. L., 15 year old schoolboy, an American Jew, had a history of measles in 1927 and tonsillectomy in 1928. He entered the hospital on March 9, 1936, because of swelling of the abdomen and the lower extremities. The family history revealed that the boy's father had died of cerebral hemorrhage. The boy had been well until January 1935, when he began to complain of "sour stomach," the attacks being characterized by loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting and belching without pain. The first attack lasted two days. After a symptomless interval of two