Deep Vein Thrombosis - History

History

The first documented DVT is thought to have occurred in the 13th century, in the leg of a 20-year-old male. At some point, the increased incidence of DVT in women after childbirth was noticed, and in the late 1700s, a public health recommendation was issued to encourage women to breast feed as a means to prevent this phenomenon; the DVT was called "milk leg", as it was thought to result from milk building up in the leg.

In 1856, German physician and pathologist Rudolf Virchow published what is referred to as Virchow's triad, the three major causes of thrombosis. The triad provides the theoretical framework for the current explanation of venous thrombosis formation, although it was focused on the effect of a foreign body in the venous system and the conditions required for clot propagation.

Multiple pharmacological therapies for DVT were introduced in the 20th century: oral anticoagulants in the 1940s, subcutaneous LDUH in 1962, and subcutaneous LMWH in 1982. Diagnoses were commonly performed by impedance plethysmography in the 1970s and 1980s, but the use of Doppler ultrasound techniques, with their increased sensitivity and specificity, largely superseded this method.