[Vascular diagnosis with color-coded duplex sonography. A cost-benefit analysis].

In a retrospective study over two years, the costs of 2909 CCDS examinations were compared with 1893 digital subtraction angiograms. The cost of each CCDS examination was calculated as 147 DM and each DSA examination with intra-arterial contrast medium, or for shunt angiography was 709 DM. By using CCDS, it was possible to reduce the cost of angiographic examinations by 177,000 DM per year.