A New Case of Fatal Pulmonary Thromboembolism Associated with Prolonged Sitting at Computer in Korea

ABSTRACT

A newly reported, variant form of venous thromboembolism (VTE), named as "eThrombosis", occurred in a patient who maintained a prolonged sitting position at a computer. The patient fortunately recovered from the disease through early diagnosis and treatment. Recently however, the author experienced a new case of a 24-year-old Korean man who died due to "eThrombosis" after playing an Internet computer game continuously for about 80 hours. Based on this case, the author would like to warn heavy computer users of the risk of "eThrombosis", as they might also be at risk. Sitting for a long time at the computer results in an immobility that is a new and large risk factor of life-threatening VTE.