DETECTION OF DEEP VENOUS THROMBOSIS - PROSPECTIVE COMPARISON OF MR-IMAGING AND SONOGRAPHY

Seventy-five patients (41 women and 34 men, 20-85 years old) with clin ically suspected deep venous thrombosis (DVT) were examined with MR im aging and sonography, In 26 patients, the final diagnosis was acute fe moropopliteal DVT, The sensitivity of MR imaging for detecting this di sease was 100% with a 95% confidence interval (CI) of 87-100%; the spe cificity was 100% with a CI of 92-100%: and the accuracy was 96% with a CI of 89-99%. The corresponding sensitivity of sonography was 77% wi th a CI of 53-92%; the specificity was 98% with a CI of 89-100%; and t he accuracy was 83% with a CI of 72-90%. In four of the 75 patients, M R images revealed thrombus of the pelvis (n = 1) or calf (n = 3) witho ut femoropopliteal involvement, The estimated prevalence of isolated c alf and/or pelvic DVT was 5% with a CI of 1-13%. MR imaging is signifi cantly more sensitive (P = .02) and accurate (P < .01) than sonography in the detection of lower extremity DVT, but there was no difference in the specificity of MR imaging and that of sonography (P = .31).