Near Parity in the Final Diagnosis of Deep Venous Thrombosis by Duplex Scan and Phlebography

Abstract

A collective experience in six vascular laboratories, using the same equipment and instrumentation, provided 351 extremities in which both duplex scan and phlebography were performed, most within 24 h of each other. When the phlebogram was positive, it was a true standard and in these instances the sensitivity of duplex scanning was 95.65%. When the phlebogram was negative, it was incorrect six times, making the sensitivity of phlebography 96.9%. The specificity of phlebography was 100%. When the duplex scan was positive and the phlebogram truly negative, the duplex scan was falsely positive five times (97.3%).