May-Thurner Syndrome

[DCCCRN2Bn05]

I am unsure on the spelling here but I was wondering if anyone has come across May-Thurner Syndrome in practice. My instrutor's family member has recently developed a DVT from the hip to mid-calf. They could not understand why until they did a xray i believe and found the femoral (i think) artery and vien were in not where they should be. In normal anatomy the vien rests on top of the artery, in this case the artery is on top. With mild to moderate pressure there is not a problem. But this person smokes, has recently been put back on birth control pills, and traveled in a car and airplane recently. all the risk factors for a DVT. They said she was probably not a candidate for a filter. But the clot is growing and she's now in ICU (she's been in the hospital for a week) They said it is a congenital thing and both this person's mom and grandmother have had clots in the left leg (it only effects the anatomy on the left side) I was just wondering if anyone had heard of this, and if so do I have all the information right. It is a very hard subject to find even on the net. Thanks

[kids]

May-Thurner syndrome

aka/or

Iliac vein compression syndrome

http://www.diseasesdatabase.com/ddb33411.htm

May-Thurner Syndrome

May-Thurner syndrome is compression of the left iliac vein by the artery crossing over it. This is normal anatomy, but in some people the artery presses on the vein enough to thicken the vein wall over time. This condition may occur in adults or children. In young people in whom swelling and/or discomfort with exercise are signals, the syndrome may not be complicated by thrombosis, and stenting alone may give excellent long-term results. These results are generally better compared with results in patients who have deep venous thrombosis before the compression is recognized.

http://www.biochem.northwestern.edu/holmgren/Glossary/Definitions/Def-M/May-Thurner_Syndrome.html

Description, treatment & prognosis:

http://www.venous-info.com/handbook/hbk18c.html

Those links are 3 of the first 4 found doing Google search.

[IamRN]

Not much to add, but have to say "Wow!" From a clinical point, this is very interesting. Leave it to allnurses.com :)