BACKGROUND. Mondor's disease is a rare disorder characterized by superficia
l thrombophlebitis, classically of the thoracic-epigastric and/or lateral t
horacic veins. The etiopathogenesis of the disease is not entirely clear.
OBJECTIVE. We report the case of a patient who presented with recurrent Mon
dor's disease involving the left abdominal wall along the thoracoepigastric
vein as far as the ipsilateral iliac fossa where a lipoma was observed.
METHODS. Surgical removal of the lipoma showed a close anatomical relations
hip between the affected veins and the neoformation.
RESULTS. Follow-up after 1 year did not reveal any signs of relapse of the
thrombophlebitis.
CONCLUSION Since primary or secondary factors leading to hypercoagulability
states were not detected in our patient, we speculate that the interferenc
e of venous flow by the abdominal lipoma was probably implicated in the eti
opathogenesis of the disease.