Akhtar Waheed, Asif Naiz, Shaista Nayyer.
Deep vein thrombosis above 17000 ft.
Pak Armed Forces Med J Jan ;57(1):87-9.

A young soldier performing his duties at 17000 ft in northern areas of Pakistan developed progressive painless swelling of his right leg. He was a smoker but not on any drug. Examination revealed swelling of right leg up to knee joint with pitting edema. There was slight increase in temperature of the affected limb. Rest of the systemic examination was unremarkable. He was descended within next forty-eight hours of incidence to Rawalpindi at less than 2000 ft above sea level. His Doppler duplex ultrasound and radioisotope (Tc labeled) scanning of right leg revealed a large thrombous in right popliteal vein non- modifiable extending up to femoral vein. He was thoroughly investigated for inherited and acquired non-modifiable causes of thromopophilia including, anti-phospholipids syndrome, Protein C and S deficiency, APC (Factor V Leiden) resistance, which were unremarkable before and after 4 weeks of cessation of anticoagulant therapy. He was managed on the standard lines and recovered completely.

PakMediNet -Pakistan's largest Database of Pakistani Medical Journals - http://www.pakmedinet.com