The value of compression sonography was assessed to reduce the number
of phlebographies otherwise necessary when deep venous thrombosis (DVT
) is suspected among hospital patients. Compression sonography was use
d to study 119 prospective hospital patients who were suspected of hav
ing DVT of the lower extremity. The results were compared to those by
phlebography. There were 44 DVTs detected by phlebography; ten of thes
e were located only in the calf, below the kneel Of the remaining 34 f
emoropopliteal DVTs 33 were detected by the compression sonography tec
hnique. It is concluded that the use of compression sonography for pri
mary investigation of suspected DVT reduces the number of patients who
require phlebography to those whose results by compression sonography
are negative. In our study, this would have represented a decrease of
28%, corresponding to a reduction of the total diagnostic costs by 10
%.