[The death of Thomas Mann: consequence of erroneous angiologic diagnosis?]

Soon after his 80th birthday in June 1955 celebrated in Kilchberg near Zürich Thomas Mann developed a swollen and painful left leg during his vacation on the seashore of Holland. The diagnosis of "thrombophlebitis" was made by Mülders from Leiden and confirmed by Wilhelm Löffler in Zürich. To the surprise of the treating doctors an irreversible shock occurred, when the famous poet and Nobel laureate was improving. The pathological diagnosis (Christoph Hedinger) was perforation of an iliac artery aneurysm on the left side with extensive retroperitoneal hematoma, compression and thrombosis of the iliac vein. Because of lacking apparative techniques correct intra vitam diagnosis was not yet possible in 1955, and life saving vascular surgery was available only shortly later. It is described how Thomas Mann himself experienced his last illness. His astonishing medical knowledge is illustrated by examples dealing with vascular medicine. A summary of his last year of life is given.