Diagnosis of deep vein thrombosis by combination of Doppler ultrasound flow examination and strain gauge plethysmography. An alternative to venography only in particular conditions despite improved accuracy of the Doppler method.

Doppler ultrasound flow examination, strain gauge plethysmography and contrast venography were performed in 160 lower limbs of 80 in-patients. Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) was suspected in 87 limbs. Using measurement of venous stop-flow pressure, the Doppler method hae an overall sensitivity of 83%. By combined use of Doppler and Plethysmography, sensitivity was increased to 96%. Specificity was 62% and 51%, respectively. With a positive and a negative predictive value of 80% and 73%, respectively, the combination of both non-invasive method cannot reliably replace venography in the diagnosis of DTV, although all (40/40) thromboses proximal to or involving the popliteal segment were detected by either Doppler and Plethysmography or both. After exclusion of 14 patients (18%) suffering from conditions known to alter the results of these non-invasive methods, the positive predictive value of abnormal findings in both Doppler and Plethysmography was increased to 94% for suspected limbs, whilst negative predictive value of both negative Doppler and Plethysmography was 90%, allowing the avoidance of venography in these patients.