Introduction: Internal jugular vein thrombosis (IJVT) is an obscure vascular disease that is not often seen, with potentially deadly complications such as sepsis and pulmonary embolism. Spontaneous IJVT is considered when no obvious predisposing causes of thrombosis are present within the vessel.
Case Presentation: A previously healthy, 27-year-old man presented to the emergency department in Al Noor hospital in Makkah complaining of right side neck pain and tonic seizure. Physical examination revealed mild swelling in the right anterior side of the neck with slight tenderness. Both CT scan and ultrasonography of the neck revealed an acute thrombus in the right internal jugular vein. The patient was started on anticoagulants and the neck pain relieved within 3 days.
Results: The patient was discharged on Warfarin with weekly follow up in the clinic for monitoring of INR and PT.
Conclusions: Even though spontaneous IJVT is a rare incidence, physicians should not exclude IJVT even in non-hospitalized patients and without risk factors. If there is a suspicion of IJVT, color Doppler U/S should be performed to exclude the disease.
Key words: internal jugular, vein thrombosis, vascular disease
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