5 - BÜRGER’S DISEASE (THROMBOANGIITIS OBLITERANS)

Summary

Bürger's disease or thromboangiitis obliterans (TAO) is a nonatherosclerotic segmental inflammatory obliterative vascular disease that affects medium- and small-sized arteries as well as superficial veins. Bürger's disease manifested in the brain has the following morphologic characteristics: arterial occlusions caused by thrombosis in small arteries without arteriosclerosis, and spatial predilection for the cerebral surface in the watershed region between the middle cerebral, anterior, and posterior cerebral arteries. TAO is characterized by claudication or ischemia of both legs and less so of the arms. The disease begins distally and progresses more proximally. The diagnosis of TAO requires the exclusion of an embolic source, autoimmune disease, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia. Arteriography should show the distal involvement with normal arterial lumen proximal to the popliteal or distal brachial level and the absence of atheromatous changes in the large vessels. Abstinence from tobacco will likely halt disease progression and sometimes result in regression of vascular changes.