Tuberculosis and Venous Thromboembolism: a case series

INTRODUCTION: Tuberculosis remains an infectious disease with a high prevalence worldwide and represents a major public health issue. Although venous thromboembolism is a rare complication of this disease, it may be a potentially life-threatening event. CASE SERIES PRESENTATION: We report two cases of severe pulmonary tuberculosis associated with venous thromboembolism. A 38 year-old caucasian male that had a thromboembolic event as an unsual presentation form of tuberculosis and a 51 year-old caucasian male that developed deep venous thrombosis later in the course of the disease. CONCLUSION: An association between inflamation induced by tuberculosis and a hypercoagulable state has been described. Therefore, the occurence of deep venous thrombosis or pulmonary embolic episods, should be considered in patients with tuberculosis particulary during the first weeks of treatment. The physician's awarness of these phenomena is important to an early diagnostic suspicion and prompt treatment in order to prevent fatal outcomes.