Venous gangrene in a patient with adenocarcinoma of the lung

Cancer-related thromboembolism is a severe but not uncommon paraneoplastic syndrome in mucinous cancer patients. However, cancer-induced venous gangre ne is extremely rare and has never been reported in the English literature. Here, we present a case of lung cancer complicated with venous gangrene of the left foot. An elevated serum anticardiolipin level was detected during hospitalization, but the patient's clinical condition stabilized after hep arinization. We suggest that in cancer patients, an elevated serum anticard iolipin antibody level might be a warning sign of an impending thrombotic e vent and that low-molecular-weight heparin is a sensible choice in treating this kind of cancer-related thromboembolism.