EDITORIAL
Reviewing a relevant topic
Paulo Roberto Mattos da Silveira
Professor, Graduate Program in Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. Member, SBACV
In 1969 the editorialist published in the journal Angiopatias his first scientific article, entitled "Varicose vein with thrombophlebitis," 1 having Algy de Medeiros and Amelio Pinto-Ribeiro as co-authors. In fact, it was a case report of a patient with voluminous "varicose bundle" in the lower third of the thigh, which progressed spontaneously with inflammation and thrombosis. That case was exceptional not only due to process amplitude, but also because of the chosen surgical treatment (thrombectomy).
Nearly 4 decades later, mentioning this personal recollection is justified by the enthusiasm felt after reading the excellent review article on superficial thrombophlebitis in this issue of Jornal Vascular Brasileiro, 2 which brings a more complete content about this disease. It provides information from its concept to varied forms of clinical or surgical treatment, presented with a wide discussion and based on updated data from the medical literature. This allows readers to broaden their knowledge on an issue that is quite often treated superficially (with apologies for the redundancy) in specific publications about vascular diseases, whether text books or articles.
Therefore, superficial thrombophlebitis is given a similar status than its half sister, deep venous thrombosis, since it can also cause pulmonary embolism in considerable rates, besides requiring, according to each case, the patient to be anticoagulated for variable time. It should also be stressed that this disease can be a warning sign and its occurrence can indicate concomitance of other morbidities (thrombophilias, infections, neoplasms, etc.).
Reading of that article by vascular surgeons and angiologists will certainly increase their resources to better diagnose the disease itself and its several causes, in addition to allowing for establishment of the most adequate conduct for an efficacious treatment. I congratulate the authors from Faculdade de Medicina de Botucatu for rescuing the knowledge on the medical importance of one of the most frequent morbidities in clinical practice of our specialty.
References
- 1. Silveira PR, Medeiros A, Pinto-Ribeiro A. Varicotromboflebite. Angiopatias. 1969;9(2):71-6.
- 2. Sobreira ML, Yoshida WB, Lastória S. Tromboflebite superficial: epidemiologia, fisiopatologia, diagnóstico e tratamento. J Vasc Bras. 2008;7(2):131-143.
Publication Dates
-
Publication in this collection
01 Aug 2008 -
Date of issue
June 2008
