Unicompartmental muscle edema: an early sign of deep venous thrombosis.

The finding of muscle edema restricted to a single muscle compartment on MRI usually indicates a diagnosis of traumatic injury, myositis, denervation or neoplasm. This case demonstrates that deep venous thrombosis can also be the cause of isolated deep posterior compartment muscle edema in the calf and should be considered in the differential diagnosis even in the absence of diffuse soft tissue or subcutaneous edema.