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Is it useful to also image the asymptomatic leg in patients with suspected deep vein thrombosis?: comment.
J Thromb Haemost. 2015 May 20;
Authors: Laroche JP, Dauzat M
Abstract
In a retrospective study of ultrasound findings in 2804 symptomatic patients(1) , Le Gal et al found only 2 (0.08%) patients with unilateral symptoms who had no proximal thrombosis in the symptomatic lower limb but had proximal thrombosis on the contralateral side. They conclude that ultrasound findings would have changed the therapeutic management only in these 2 patients, a figure they judge too low to justify systematic bilateral ultrasound examination. This is a respectable opinion, but we disagree. We would discuss neither the methods nor the figures, but the question itself. The reasoning they apply here would be perfectly sound if the output was submitting or not a patient to a treatment with a given benefit / risk ratio. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
PMID: 25990824 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]