ABSTRACT

Buerger’s disease or thromboangiitis obliterans (TAO) is a non-atherosclerotic segmental inflammatory arterial disease which mostly affects small and medium sized arteries. It is most commonly encountered in young adults and is closely identified with tobacco usage. Von Winiwarter, in 1879, was the first to describe Buerger’s disease on discovering ‘endarteritis’ and ‘endophlebitis’ in an amputated limb. Much later, in 1908, Leo Buerger provided a detailed and accurate description of the disease, differentiating it from atherosclerosis, and called it ‘thromboangiitis obliterans’. Even though it has a worldwide distribution the condition is much more common in countries in Asia such as Israel, India and Korea than in the USA or Europe. Cachovan in 19861 reported the incidence of Buerger’s disease as a proportion of peripheral arterial occlusive disease in different countries (Table 42.1).