The radiological investigation of suspected lower limb deep vein thrombosis

A postal survey was performed to determine the current practices and attitudes of radiologists towards the imaging of suspected lower limb deep vein thrombosis (DVT), One hundred and twenty-seven departments responded to a questionnaire sent in March 1996, The results show that 87% of hospitals possess colour Doppler ultrasound (CDUS) machines and that 46% of departments perform ultrasound as the first line investigation in over 90% of cases, Thirty per cent of departments considered calf vein visualization to be generally adequate and 34% thought that clinicians in their hospitals invariably anticoagulated patients with isolated calf thrombus, In hospitals where venography was routinely used as the first line investigation, the most common reasons were: the perceived inferiority of ultrasound (US) in demonstrating below-knee clot, its time-consuming nature and the limited access to suitable ultrasound machines, The widespread use of ultrasound is encouraging, however, there are clearly diverse views. A significant minority of departments depend principally upon venography in the diagnosis of DVT.