Pathology and pathogenesis of Buergerʹs disease

Since Buergerʹs disease, which is also called ‘thromboangiitis obliteransʹ, was proposed in 1908 (Buerger, Am J Med Soc 1908;136:567), more cases have been reported from the United States, Europe, and especially from the Orient. However the pathogenesis of this disease remains unclarified, and its acceptance as a specific disease entity has been disputed (Gore and Burrows, Am J Clin Pathol 1958;29:319; Wessler et al., N Engl J Med 1960;262:1149). We histologically examined the surgically resected arterial specimens from 113 cases, 109 males and four females, clinically diagnosed as Buergerʹs disease in 1975–1976 and reported the results in 1978 (Kurozumi and Tanaka, Vasc Surg 1978;12:63) and proposed that the term ‘Buergerʹs diseaseʹ should be replaced by ‘Buergerʹs syndromeʹ. We reexamined the above-mentioned cases and will report the pathology and propose the possible pathogenesis of Buergerʹs disease.