Ultrasound with Levovist (R) in the diagnosis of suspected calf vein thrombosis

Diagnosing calf vein thrombosis (CVT) by color Doppler ultrasound (US) is o ften a difficult task because of swelling or obesity. The purpose of this s tudy was to assess if IV infusion of Levovist (R) can improve the accuracy and reduce the rate of indeterminate examinations, A total of 20 patients w ith suspected CVT underwent color Doppler US without and with Levovist (R) followed by ascending venography as the "gold standard," which detected cal f clots in 7 patients (35%), Compared to routine noncontrast sonography, Le vovist" examination reduced the rate of indeterminate scans from 55% to 20% and improved the specificity for the detection of CVT from 25% to 67% with out compromising sensitivity (100% to 86%) notably. Image quality was impro ved in 13 (65%) of 20 scans. In conclusion, we can say that Levovist (R) im proves the quality of duplex examination of the calf veins, especially in c ases with difficult conditions due to obesity or swelling, (C) 2001 World F ederation for Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology.