Duplex Ultrasonography Has Limited Utility in Detection of Postoperative DVT After Primary Total Joint Arthroplasty.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Duplex ultrasound is routinely used to evaluate suspected deep venous thrombosis after total joint arthroplasty. When there is a clinical suspicion for a pulmonary embolism, a chest angiogram (chest CTA) is concomitantly obtained.

Questions/purposes

Two questions were addressed: First, for the population of patients who receive duplex ultrasound after total joint arthroplasty, what is the rate of positive results? Second, for these patients, how many of these also undergo chest CTA for clinical suspicion of pulmonary embolus and how many of these tests are positive? Furthermore, what is the correlation between duplex ultrasound results and chest CTA results?

Methods

A retrospective chart review was conducted of total joint replacement patients in 2011 at a

SUBMITTER: Vira S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4916084 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature