Lower limb deep venous incompetence is rare in patients undergoing obesitysurgery

Objective: To investigate the incidence of lower limb venous insufficiency in morbidly obese patients. Patients and methods: The study group comprised 125 patients (109 women, 16 men). The median (range) age and body mass index were 35 (19-59) years and 42 (32-68) kg/m(2) respectively. Eleven patients had clinical signs of var icose veins or had previously undergone varicose vein surgery. Patients wer e investigated with duplex ultrasound scanning on the day before surgery. I liac, femoral, popliteal, and long and short saphenous veins in both legs w ere studied. Results: A total of 33 patients had abnormal reflux in the superficial vein s (>0.5 s). In the deep veins 2 patients had valvular incompetence in the c ommon femoral vein with reflux times of 2 and 0.7 s respectively. At reinve stigation 18 and 24 months after surgery the reflux times were normalised. Conclusion: In this study the incidence of deep venous incompetence in the lower limb in morbidly obese patients is low.