[Venous ultrasonography coupled with continuous Doppler in the diagnosis of deep venous thrombosis of the lower limbs. Evaluation in symptomatic patients].

OBJECTIVE

A prospective study of deep vein thrombosis was conducted to compare diagnosis with venous echo-Doppler and phlebography in 101 hospitalized patients with symptomatic lower limbs.

METHODS

Phlebography was used as the reference examination to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of echo-Doppler for lesions at all levels of the limb.

RESULTS

Overall sensitivity was 90% and specificity 72%. The prevalence of venous thrombosis was 50% symptomatic patients and the positive predictive value of echo-Doppler was 76%. The negative predictive value was 88%. For patients with proximal signs, there were no false negatives with echo-Doppler and for those with distal signs, particularly in patients who had recently undergone surgery, were obese or had a past history of deep vein thrombosis echo-Doppler gave less satisfactory results.

CONCLUSION

Echo-Doppler can be proposed as a first intention examination for the search for deep vein thrombosis in patients with clinical signs in the proximal area of the leg, while phlebography is still required for more distal areas.