Proximal deep vein thrombosis: the use of the echoDoppler for diagnosis and therapeutic indications.

Our objective was to assess the impact of echo-Doppler technique on the diagnosis of Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) in major orthopedic surgery (80% of DVT diagnosed are asymptomatic). We therefore analyzed 200 consecutive pts submitted to elective surgery for total hip replacement. The postoperative echo-Doppler study indicated DVT in 13 pts: these pts underwent a postoperative lower limb phlebography. Echo-Doppler and phlebography had concordant results in 11 of 13 echo assessed proximal DVT. These observations suggest that Duplex scanning is a good method to diagnose and to guide therapy for proximal DVT in orthopaedic clinic.