[Benign or malignant thrombosis of the jugular vein? - Differentiation with colour-Doppler sonography]

S Rickes1, W Wermke

  • 1Medizinische Klinik mit Schwerpunkt Gastroenterologie, Hepatologie und Endokrinologie des Universitätsklinikums Charité (Campus Mitte) der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. steffen.rickes@charite.de

Ultraschall in Der Medizin (Stuttgart, Germany : 1980)
|April 16, 2004
PubMed

Thrombosis can lead to physical impairment and cost-intensive investigations. In some cases, a thrombosis is caused by infiltration of an adjacent tumour. It is therefore important to differentiate between a benign or malignant thrombosis. We report the case of a woman with a malignant thrombosis of the jugular vein. She was hospitalised for suspected malignant disease of unknown origin. Her family doctor had made the diagnosis of a "partially organised thrombosis". At sonography, vessels with an arterial blood flow were detected in the thrombus. A carcinoma of the thyroid gland was therefore suspected and confirmed by histology. This case report demonstrates that the differentiation between a benign and malignant thrombosis is possible with colour-Doppler sonography.

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