Recurrent deep venous thrombosis: limitations of US.

Compression ultrasound (US) has become widely used to diagnose acute deep venous thrombosis (DVT). To determine the appearance of veins with previous DVT, 60 legs (58 patients) in which DVT had been diagnosed 6-31 months earlier (mean, 15.1 months) were reexamined with compression US. At reevaluation there was no indication of acute DVT. Thirty-two extremities had an appearance consistent with clot at the time of this study; 28 demonstrated normal findings. Variables that correlated with findings at follow-up US included age, location of clot, number of previous clots, pain, and augmentation of flow at compression. These preliminary data indicate that compression US may not be reliable as a follow-up study in patients in whom postphlebotic syndrome develops after an acute episode of DVT.