Gravitational Reflux Does Not Correlate with Clinical Status of Venous Stasis

Abstract

Objective: To quantify venous reflux by a standard duplex ultrasound technique and correlate the data obtained with clinical grades of severity of venous disease. Design: A prospective study in a single group of patients with venous insufficiency. Setting: Private practice in secondary and tertiary care. Patients: 133 inpatients undergoing investigation for venous disease. Patients with known venous obstruction, arterio-venous malformations or lymphoedema were excluded from the study. Main outcome measures: Duplex ultrasound scanning was performed to measure the cross-sectional area, severity and duration of venous reflux following calf compression using a standardized technique. Results: Clinical classification assigned to each limb correlated with the presence of venous reflux, but not the quantity, velocity or duration of reflux in the veins studied. Presence of reflux and diameter of the vein studied correlated ( p<0.001) in all the veins except the popliteal vein ( p > 0.03). Conclusion: Quantification of venous reflux obtained by cuff deflation does not correlate with clinical severity of venous stasis, but does detect reflux accurately. This allowed greater saphenous sparing in nine limbs in 41 patients but proved the need for saphenous removal in seven limbs not previously suspected clinically of requiring this procedure.