Evaluation of 125I-fibrinogen test for venous thrombosis in patients with hip fractures: comparison between isotope scanning and necropsy findings.

The results of 125I-fibrinogen leg scanning during life were compared with the findings at a detailed post-mortem dissection of the leg veins in 31 patients with hip fractures who died during the period of isotope scanning or within seven days of the last scan. Thigh scanning on the side of the hip fracture proved valueless, and criteria for the confident isotopic diagnosis of venous thrombosis in the uninjured thigh could not be determined. In the lower leg a difference in uptake of 20% or more that persisted for 24 hours between adjacent positions on one leg or between corresponding positions on the two legs was consistently associated with the presence of venous thrombosis at necropsy.