Comparison between clinical examination, cw-Doppler ultrasound and colour-duplex sonography in the diagnosis of incompetent perforating veins.
OBJECTIVE
This study was conducted to investigate the accuracy and agreement between clinical examination, continuous wave (cw)-Doppler ultrasound and colour-duplex sonography (CDS) in diagnosing incompetent perforating veins (ICPV).


METHODS
Observational cohort study.


METHODS
Nineteen patients with chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) were examined clinically, by hand-held cw-Doppler ultrasound in combination with tourniquet compression and CDS.


RESULTS
The low accuracy of the clinical examination and the diagnosis of ICPV by cw-Doppler were surprising. The specificity was 15% and sensitivity 29%, when CDS was taken as the "gold standard". Furthermore the results show clearly that the application of a tourniquet cannot provide reliable results.


CONCLUSIONS
In patients with CVI, clinical and cw-Doppler cannot accurately diagnose ICPV when compared to CDS.
Schultheiss
R
R
Department of Medicine, University Hospital, Zürich, Switzerland.
Billeter
M
M
Bollinger
A
A
Franzeck
U K
UK
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007866:Leg / Q000098:blood supply; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010808:Physical Examination; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018608:Ultrasonography, Doppler; D018615:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Color; D018616:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Duplex; D014689:Venous Insufficiency / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging