Diagnosis of deep venous thrombosis by duplex sonography

In a prospective study 90 patients with clinically suggested lower limb deep venous thrombosis (DVT) were examined with duplex ultrasonography (US) prior to venography. No attempts were made to examine the calf veins. Five ultrasound examinations were inconclusive. Thirty-four patients had DVT diagnosed at US with a sensitivity of 97 per cent and a specificity of 96 per cent. Compressibility of the vein as assessed by the real-time image was in the acute phase an easy and fast test for DVT, whereas the Doppler data failed to add to the diagnostic accuracy. Twenty-seven patients with DVT were followed during anticoagulant treatment, but only 16 regained fully compressible veins within the observation period of 3 to 6 months. Duplex sonography was useful in monitoring the changes in vein patency during anticoagulant treatment.