The clinico-pathological spectrum of Mondor's disease: an important surgical entity.

A total of five cases of Mondor's disease and/or Mondor variants are presented. Although the patients did not have the classical signs of extreme tenderness along the right lateral chest wall, Mondor's disease was detected in later forms at biopsy which was taken for various reasons, such as lump in the breast, discomfort, abnormal mammography, etc. The progression of the disease from a form of acute phlebitis to thrombophlebitis and phlebosclerosis with either recanalization or ultimate obliteration of the vein wall and lumen by sclerotic hyalinized tissue and/or calcification, is demonstrated. A greater awareness of this disease will ultimately lead to the discovery of more cases of this benign entity. Although the etiology is not in any way related to a specific condition, the major cause of the disease appears to be trauma (e.g. blunt trauma, biopsy, etc.).