Deep Vein Thrombosis

Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and its complications debilitate or kill thousands of patients annually. In this disease, a blood clot forms in one of the deep veins usually in the leg or pelvis. In most cases, the body can slowly dissolve the clot without intervention. However, your doctor may use anticoagulant drugs or surgery to remove the clot. The primary concern for the patient is that some or all of the clot may become dislodged and travel to the lungs, obstructing breathing and creating a pulmonary embolism. Pulmonary embolism is life-threatening emergency. Up to 2.5 million hospitalized patients develop DVT each year.

Your doctor may request a noninvasive test to help monitor and measure an existing DVT. Using ultrasound with color flow imaging, the lower extremity veins can be accurately evaluated for DVT. These reliable, safe tests have a 98% accuracy rate in our lab studies.