Repeated small bowel resection in a patient with Buerger�s disease and intestinal involvement

Buerger's disease, also called thromboangiitis obliterans,
is a recurrent and an uncommon vaso-occlusive
inflammatory disease, which typically affects small and
medium-sized arteries, veins and nerves of the upper and
lower extremities. Mesenteric and multisystem
involvement of two ormore organs is extremely rare. Here
we report the case of a 39-year-old male heavy smoker
who had undergone four repetitive laparotomies and
multiple small bowel resections for ischaemic
involvement of Buerger's disease. He had below-the-knee
amputation of the right leg and finger of the left hand
because of that disease before bowel involvement.
Histopathological findings revealed that the arteries and
veins of the resected small intestine were occluded with
organised thrombi. Inflammatory cell infiltration was
recognised mainly in the intima of distal branches of
mesenteric artery. These findings were compatible with
previous findings in histopathological examinations of
amputated extremities.