A case report of acute Leriche syndrome: aortoiliac occlusive disease due to embolization from left ventricular thrombus caused by myocarditis

BACKGROUND: Leriche syndrome is the triad of symptoms consisting of claudication, erectile dysfunction, and absence of femoral pulses. Inflammatory disease of the heart muscle, myocarditis, may occur because of immune system activation, drug exposure or infections. CASE PRESENTATION: A 31-year-old man with no previous medical history presented to the emergency department with acute back pain that had started suddenly during weightlifting, which was initially misdiagnosed as spinal disc herniation. The patient returned four hours later and a thoracoabdominal computed tomography showed a large thrombus in the aortoiliac region creating a total occlusion. Vascular surgery with embolectomy was immediately performed. Further investigation with echocardiography revealed deteriorated systolic dysfunction with marked hypokinesia and two large thrombi in the left ventricle. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging showed late contrast enhancement of the inferolateral and septal regions, which indicated a recent myocarditis. CONCLUSION: Myocarditis can result in multiple embolization with diverse organ manifestation including total occlusion of the aortoiliac arteries, which required urgent embolectomy. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12872-021-02031-4.