Clinical History

A 73-year-old female with a recent history of sclerotherapy and foot pain was being medically treated for plantar fasciitis.

The images above demonstrate filling defect and thrombosis in the lateral plantar vein.

This illustration of the left foot shows the location of the plantar arch, plantar neurovascular structures, and the adjacent muscles.

Diagnosis

Plantar vein thrombosis is a rare condition with only a few reported cases on ultrasound. There may be two reported cases on MRI. Causes of plantar vein thrombosis include trauma , surgery, paraneoplastic syndrome , hyper coagulable state, use of oral contraceptive, presence of prothrombin gene mutation. The medial and lateral plantar veins course alongside the sole of the foot and join deep to the abductor hallucis muscle forming a single plantar vein adjacent to the medial malleolus to become the posterior tibial vein.

This patient developed plantar vein thrombosis secondary to sclerotherapy.

Management

Treated with Lovenox

References

Siegal, Daniel S., Jim S. Wu, Darren D. Brennan, Tracy Challies, and Mary G. Hochman. “Plantar vein thrombosis: a rare cause of plantar foot pain.” Skeletal Radiology 37.3 (2007): 267-69. Web.