title: Acute abdominal venous thromboses--the hyperdense CT sign.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the ability of unenhanced computed tomography (CT) for diagnosis of acute abdominal venous thrombosis (VT).
  
  
  METHODS
  This retrospective study matched 29 patients with 52 VT with a control group of 29 patients without VT. Two radiologists independently evaluated the unenhanced CT on standard abdominal and narrowed window settings to detect acute VT by anatomical location and confidence level. The effect of age, sex, hemoglobin, and hematocrit on VT density (HU) was also evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy were 77.9% (95% CI, 66%-85%), 96.7% (95% CI, 94%-98%), and 95.4% (95% CI, 93%-96%), respectively, in the detection of VT, with improved sensitivity and confidence ratings on narrowed windows. Mean VT density (Hounsfield unit) was positively associated with hemoglobin and hematocrit and significantly higher than background blood (67.2 vs 37.0; P < 0.0001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Acute abdominal VT can be detected on unenhanced CT in more than two thirds of the cases by identifying hyperdense venous segments.
authors.affiliation: Joint Department of Medical Imaging, University Health Network and Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto General Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. goldsteinmark@yahoo.co.uk
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Goldstein
authors.forename: Lye
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Quen
authors.forename: Lindsay
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jacks
authors.forename: Kartik
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jhaveri
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen / Q000098:blood supply*; D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006400:Hematocrit; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011860:Radiography, Abdominal / Q000379:methods*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*; D020246:Venous Thrombosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*
chemical_list: D006454:Hemoglobins