I can't talk about a specific patient because I don't have enough information and they have to be my own specific patient, otherwise I could lose my ability to practice! However, I can say that if I saw a young man with a popliteal artery thrombosis, I would not think it was Buergers because Buergers affects the small tiny arteries first. And therefore it wouldn't present usually just in one leg - it would affect the fingers and toes first.

Secondly, the thrombophilia I would be looking for would be antiphospholipid syndrome, which is notorious for affecting young people. Lastly, raised homocysteine levels do not cause thrombosis in blood vessels such as the popliteal artery, neither do the 4G/5G polymorphism.

If you have mildly raised homocysteine levels, it's also because you're not eating enough folic acid. Folic acid is a vitamin in present in green foods, so I always encourage patients to follow the old wives tale of "eat your greens."