Femoral-Popliteal Venous Thrombosis and Pulmonary Embolism

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Abstract
In an unselected series of 93 autopsies, femoral-popliteal vessels were removed by means of a new technic and were evaluated by gross morphologic and histologic studies. The origin and manner of propagation of venous thrombi were evaluated and the relations of such thrombi to pulmonary embolism, disease states, and clinical features of the patients were studied. Thrombi in thigh veins were noted in 26.9% of the cases and 49.1% of the thrombi were situated in the sinuses of venous valves. A large percentage (82.4%) of the thrombi were primary in the thigh veins; 40% were bilateral. Thrombi that totally occluded thigh veins usually originated in the involved veins, often from the sinus of a valve, with subsequent retrograde thrombosis; propagation from thrombi in the calf veins was infrequent. Inflammation was associated infrequently with thrombosis. Thrombosis of the thigh veins was related to the length of confinement to bed. A statistically significant increase in frequency of thrombosis in thigh veins was found in women. In patients who had had congestive heart failure and in those who had had nonbacterial thrombotic endocarditis, increased frequencies of such thrombi were not statistically significant. Pulmonary embolism was present in 22.6% of the total series and in 3.2% it was fatal. Pulmonary emboli were found in 60 % of the cases having thrombi in the thigh, but in only 9 % of the other cases.
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