Colour Doppler ultrasound in diagnosing venous insufficiency. A comparison to descending phlebography.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the technique of ultrasound colour Doppler in diagnosing venous valvular incompetence in the lower leg.

DESIGN

Prospective clinical study.

SETTING

Department of clinical physiology.

MATERIALS

44 patients (56 legs) referred with a clinical diagnosis of deep venous insufficiency.

CHIEF OUTCOME MEASURES

Colour Doppler and descending phlebography.

MAIN RESULTS

Using phlebography as a "gold standard" the accuracy of the colour Doppler technique varied between 93% and 55% for the different veins. For the superficial and deep femoral veins, the popliteal vein and the long and short saphenous veins the accuracy was between 90% and 70%. The lowest correlation was found for the deep calf veins (55-66% accuracy).

CONCLUSIONS

Colour Doppler was found to be a suitable technique for non-invasive investigation of patients with suspected venous insufficiency. Since the colour Doppler technique is non-invasive it is well suited for follow-up studies. Descending phlebography should be reserved as an adjunct technique in patients scheduled for valve reconstructive surgery.