[Partial thrombosis of the inferior vena cava in a patient with non-Hodgkin lymphoma and history of lumbar spine surgery].

Complete or partial thrombosis of the inferior vena cava is usually due to pre-existing malformation of the vessel, malignant tumors, ascending thrombosis, or thrombophilic disorders. We report the case of an 81-year-old woman, in whom a partial thrombosis of the vena cava was observed in the CT scan when re-staging was performed after six cycles of R-CHOP because of high-grade malignant non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Before chemotherapy was started, the patient had undergone an operation of the lumbar spine using cement augmentation. Retrospective analysis showed that cement had penetrated a segmental vein and spilled into the vena cava leading to formation of an adhering blood thrombus. The patient was free of symptoms and anticoagulation was started. Spillage of cement frequently occurs in the process of vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty and may result in serious sequelae. As these procedures are increasingly being used, physicians should be aware of these complications if a patient presents with thrombosis of the caval vein or signs of pulmonary embolism.