The role of strain gauge plethysmography in the assessment of patients with suspected deep vein thrombosis

Suspicion of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is a common reason for medical referral to hospital. Clinical signs and symptoms are notoriously unreliable, hence there is the need for objective testing. Strain gauge plethysmography (SGP) has been marketed as a technique for excluding lower limb DVT. We the...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:British journal of haematology 2002-08, Vol.118 (2), p.600-603
Main Authors: Robinson, Brian J., Kesteven, Patrick J. L., Elliott, Simon T.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
deep vein thrombosis
doppler ultrasound
d‐dimer
False Negative Reactions
Fibrin Fibrinogen Degradation Products - analysis
Follow-Up Studies
Hematology
Humans
Plethysmography - methods
Plethysmography - standards
Sensitivity and Specificity
strain gauge plethysmography
Ultrasonography, Doppler
Venous Thrombosis - diagnosis
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Suspicion of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is a common reason for medical referral to hospital. Clinical signs and symptoms are notoriously unreliable, hence there is the need for objective testing. Strain gauge plethysmography (SGP) has been marketed as a technique for excluding lower limb DVT. We therefore set out to evaluate this screening tool. Over a 2 year period, 437 consecutive patients referred with suspected DVT were assessed using both plethysmography and Doppler ultrasound. When the two techniques were compared, plethysmography was found to have a negative predictive value of 90%. We conclude that strain gauge plethysmography has a role in the screening of patients with suspected DVT but should not be used as the sole method in patient assessment.
ISSN:0007-1048
1365-2141
DOI:10.1046/j.1365-2141.2002.03615.x