Prospective evaluation of radionuclide venography for detecting deep venous thrombosis

Nuclear (Tc-99m macroaggregated albumin) and contrast venography were prospectively performed on 38 patients with clinically suspected deep; venous thrombosis (DVT). Predefined criteria were used to assign radionuclide studies to a low (21 patients), moderate (3 patients) or high (14 patients) probability for DVT. The incidence of DVT in the low, moderate, and high probability groups was 10%, 67%, and 100%, respectively. No patients with a low-probability study had DVT above the calf. Our results suggest that radionuclide venography performed and interpreted as described can be very reliable and may eliminate the need to perform contrast venography in many cases