Mesenteric vein thrombosis secondary to protein S deficiency

Mesenteric vein thrombosis is an uncommon condition. Diagnosis is often dif ficult because of the nonspecific clinical presentation and findings on rou tine laboratory and radiological evaluation. Endoscopy is usually unreveali ng. An underlying hypercoagulable state is often present, but protein S def iciency has rarely been implicated. We describe a case in which chronic inf erior mesenteric vein thrombosis, with remarkable endoscopic findings, occu rred as the initial presentation of type I protein S deficiency. (Am J Gast roenterol 1999;94:3616-3619. (C) 1999 by Am. Coll. of Gastroenterology).