ORIGINAL ARTICLES   

International Angiology 1998 September;17(3):151-4

Copyright © 2000 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Symptomatic deep venous thrombosis of the lower limb

Giannoukas A. D., Fatouros M., Batsis H., Mitsis M., Matsagas M., Koulouras V., Tsampoulas C., Kappas M., Cassioumis A.

From the Departments of Surgery and * Radiology, School of Medicine, University of Ioannina, Greece

Background. Deep vein throm­bo­sis (DVT) is a com­mon prob­lem in clin­i­cal prac­tice caus­ing ­severe com­pli­ca­tions. In this ret­ro­spec­tive study, the dis­tri­bu­tion and ­extent of DVT in the lower limb in symp­to­mat­ic ­patients were eval­u­at­ed. Certain risk fac­tors were also inves­ti­gat­ed.
Methods. The veno­grams of 187 symp­to­mat­ic indi­vid­u­als (post­op­er­a­tive, med­i­cal, and out-­patient) with sus­pect­ed DVT and symp­toms hav­ing been ­present for less than 6 days, were ­reviewed. Seventy-seven limbs of 76 ­patients had DVT. Twenty-seven were male (age range 14-82 years, mean 57) and 49 ­female (age range 12-82, mean 56).
Results. Age over 40 years and gen­der (­female) were sig­nif­i­cant pre­dis­pos­ing fac­tors, (Z=4.23, p<0.001 and Z=2.19, p<0.05 respec­tive­ly). Isolated calf DVT alone was the most com­mon pat­tern (46%, 36 of 77 limbs), and no dif­fer­ence was seen ­between post­op­er­a­tive and med­i­cal ­patients (χ2-test, p=0.7). Postoperative DVT was found in 29 (38%) limbs. Prophylaxis with LMWH had been given in only 15 of them (52%). No dif­fer­ence was seen in the dis­tri­bu­tion and ­extent of throm­bo­sis in rela­tion to the pro­phy­lax­is with LMWH (χ2-test, p=0.34).
Conclusions. Identification of the pre­dis­pos­ing fac­tors may ­enable us to dis­tin­guish ­patients at high risk of devel­op­ing DVT. The major­ity of the throm­bi com­menced in the calf veins and thus metic­u­lous inves­ti­ga­tion of these veins in symp­to­mat­ic ­patients with sus­pect­ed DVT is nec­es­sary.