COLOR 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.