Abstract
A 73-year-old man suffered sudden and severe pain in the toes of both feet while walking. A general practitioner treated him with an antiplatelet agent but his symptoms became progressively worse and he was referred to our department. On admission, the patient had cyanosis of both toes with pain at rest. Anti-platelet agents and vasodilators, given intravenously or orally, proved ineffective in alleviating the symptoms. Computed tomography showed signs of “shaggy aorta” in the infrarenal abdominal aorta. Thus, we made a diagnosis of blue toe syndrome caused by a shaggy aorta and performed a vascular-prosthesis replacement. After this operation, his symptoms improved gradually and the cyanosis of his toes also resolved. There were no complications and the operation was effective.
