Criteria for Thromboangiitis Obliterans (TAO, Buerger's Disease)

 

Most patients are males.

 

Criteria - all of the following:

(1) onset of symptoms before the age of 50 years

(2) history of cigarette smoking

(3) no other risk factors for atherosclerosis other than smoking

(4) infrapopliteal arterial occlusive lesions

(5) upper limb involvement OR thrombophlebitis migrans

 

Patients who continue to smoke eventually present with ischemic ulcerations in the extremities with or without amputations.

 

Features that distinguish it from the other vasculitides:

(1) immunologic markers are negative

(2) thrombi tend to be highly cellular

(3) the internal elastic lamina is intact

(4) the general architecture of the arterial wall remains intact