Radiological study of the aetiological factors in venous obstruction of the upper limb.

This study was undertaken in an attempt to define the exact relationship between intermittent venous obstruction of the upper limb and the acute condition of primary axillary-subclavian vein thrombosis. Three groups of patients were investigated, namely those with evidence of intermittent venous obstruction in one or both upper limbs, those with a previous history of an acute primary axillary-subclavian vein thrombosis in one upper limb and the control group of patients. The patients were investigated by subclavian venography with the limbs in both adduction and abduction. All patients with intermittent venous obstruction were shown to have bilateral evidence of venous compression in abduction in the region of the root of the neck and half of them showed a similar bilateral compression in adduction. All patients with a previous acute thrombotic state showed venographic evidence of post-thrombotic changes in the affected limb and in the unaffected limb all showed evidence of venous compression in abduction and half showed evidence of venous compression in adduction. The control group exhibited no evidence of venous compression in either adduction or abduction.