Upper Limb DVT

Deep vein thrombosis in the upper limb, i.e. the arm, is much less common than in the legs. There are very similar predisposing factors. It tends to occur mainly in younger patients, particularly those who have very well developed muscles in the shoulder area and this can be due to something called the Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. Some people call it the Paget-Schroeder Syndrome but the thing is that when as the blood vessels and the nerve leave this part of the body to go into your arm the first rib and your collarbone can crush the vein in various positions and this can predispose you to developing an upper limb thrombosis. The treatment of an arm deep vein thrombosis basically involves establishing the diagnosis with a blood test, a D-dimer test and an ultrasound examination and usually just the treatment of an oral anticoagulant such as a DOAC or the use of warfarin and in that case if warfarin is being used you will have to undergo something called bridging where you're giving some low molecular weight heparin to begin. In people with very severe deep vein thrombosis there may be a discussion with your physician about using clot busting medicine thrombolysis and with this You may then have to consider if subsequent investigations confirm that there is nipping of the vein between the collarbone and the rib that you may need to consider removal of the first rib. This is all fairly complex and needs discussion between yourself and your physician, i.e. a vascular surgeon and a haematologist.