Etiologic profile of digital necrosis in an internal medicine department

Digital necrosis is a frequent event in vascular pathology. They are multiple etiologies and are the translation of a general or locoregional pathology. The aim of our study was to clarify the various causes of digital necrosis in an internal medicine department. We conducted a retrospective study of 23 cases of digital necrosis collected in the internal medicine department of the hospital Habib Thameur over a period from January 1998 to April 2011 . There were 16 women and 7 men with mean age of 46 years. The cardiovascular risk factors were observed in 39.13% cases. Digital necroses were interested fingers in 73.91% and toes in 30.43% of the cases. The causes were dominated by the connective diseases. The treatment was symptomatic in all cases and etiologic in only two cases. In internal medicine, the causes are dominated by connectivites. The prognosis is especially functional. It remains unfavorable in spite of the improvement of the therapeutic and etiologic care.