Venous Thrombosis Made Easy

Abstract

Modern techniques for the diagnosis of venous thrombosis have shown that up to two thirds of venous thrombi are silent and are never detected clinically, and that thrombi are present only half the time when signs and symptoms suggest their presence. Thus, the use of objective diagnostic tests is essential before a patient is subjected to a course of anticoagulant treatment. Although the frequency of fatal pulmonary embolism underscores the need to identify venous thrombosis before embolization occurs, the diagnostic tools available tend to be nonspecific or inconvenient and expensive, and the prospect of choosing from among phlebography, blood tests, . . .