DVT missed – All leg vein problems need duplex ultrasound scans

In the news today was another case of a doctor missing a DVT with tragic consequences.

Veins specialists at The Whiteley Clinic have spent years explaining that no matter what doctors or nurses say, when I comes to vein problems in the legs, if they don’t have a duplex ultrasound result in front of them, they are at best making an “informed guess”.

Duplex ultrasound is non-invasive and so does not hurt at all and uses no damaging radiation – it is only a specialised ultrasound with no risk at all to the patient.

Whether the problems be:

• Deep vein thrombosis
• Phlebitis
• Varicose Veins
• Leg Ulcers
• Venous eczema

or a host of other leg vein problems, it is highly unlikely that any doctor or nurse will guess the correct treatment without getting a duplex ultrasound scan first to find out what is going on and how extensive the problem is.

If patients with these problems are not offered a duplex ultrasound scan by their doctor or nurse, they should insist on being referred to have one.