Doppler ultrasonographic examination of the leg veins of patients with Parkinson disease

Objective: To determine the incidence of deep venous thrombosis (DVT) in pa tients with Parkinson disease. Design: Prospective study. Setting: Outpatie nt neurology clinic. Patients: Eighty-one patients with Parkinson disease. Outcome measures: Duplex ultrasonographic scans consisting of M mode images and compression images, Doppler flow assessment and augmentation of flow a ssessment. Results: Four patients had leg DVT; in 3 of the patients the thr ombi were in calf veins, whereas in I patient the thrombosis was in the sup erficial femoral vein. Of the patients with DVT, 1 (1.23%) had stage 2 Park inson disease, 1 (1.23%) had stage 2.5, and the other 2 (2.46%) had stage 4 . Conclusions: There was no statistically significant difference in the inc idence of DVT among patients who were more severely disabled by Parkinson d isease. However, an overall incidence of DVT of 4.9% in a group of asymptom atic patients is clinically meaningful, suggesting that patients with Parki nson disease are at risk for asymptomatic leg DVT.