[Value of abdominal ultrasonography in deep venous thrombosis. Retrospective study of 104 patients]

An association between venous thrombosis and cancer was first suggested by Armand Trousseau in 1865 and subsequently confirmed by a number of studies. It was therefore concluded that laboratory tests, chest radiograph and abdominal ultrasonography should be routinely performed on all patients with deep venous thrombosis. The aim of our retrospective study was to detect the clinical relevance of abdominal ultrasonography findings, especially tumors, in patients with deep venous thrombosis of the lower extremities. All patients with deep venous thrombosis hospitalized between 1990 and 1994 in the department of internal medicine of our hospital were registered. Only patients were included in the study who (1) underwent abdominal ultrasonography in our department; (2) had confirmed acute deep venous thrombosis; (3) had no known malignancy. Malignancies which appeared after hospital stay were detected by telephone inquiry among patients and general practitioners in February 1995. Of the 371 patients with deep venous thrombosis 104 were included in the study. We found abnormal ultrasound findings in 68 patients (65%), but only in 23 patients were the findings of clinical relevance, in 12 of whom (12%) there was a connection with deep venous thrombosis. Ultrasound detected 3 malignancies (3%). The overall rate of newly detected malignancies was 10 (10%), of which 6 were detected during hospitalization and 4 afterwards. Based on these results we can recommend routine performance of abdominal ultrasonography on patients with deep venous thrombosis. A literature overview is given.