Two Patients with Paget-Schroetter Syndrome That Were Successfully Diagnosed by Doppler Ultrasonography: Case Studies with a Literature Review

Abstract

We herein report on two male patients (age, 22 and 44 years) who were referred to our department with swelling of the upper right arm after attending other hospitals. Right subclavian vein thrombosis was demonstrated by ultrasonography and they were then further evaluated by contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT). Successful treatment involved venous thrombectomy in one patient and anticoagulant therapy in the other. Paget-Schhroetter syndrome was confirmed using standard vascular ultrasonography. Despite the accuracy of this method for diagnosing Paget-Schroetter syndrome, some cases are difficult to confirm. We reviewed 29 previously published case reports of Paget-Schroetter syndrome and analyzed the patient baseline characteristics, time to diagnosis, and the diagnostic methods used.