I. HISTORY

Patient Presentation

A 20-year-old college student returned to the U.S. following a summer break in which she traveled and hiked extensively in New Zealand. Two days after her flight she awoke with swelling and pain in her left calf and thigh and noticed that the skin of the leg appeared dusky blue in color. Because of these rather alarming symptoms, and the fact that her mother had a blood clot when she was young, she came immediately to the emergency room where noninvasive venous studies showed an extensive deep venous thrombosis involving the popliteal, femoral and iliac veins on the left.

Should this patient be evaluated for an underlying thrombophilia?

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