WEDNESDAY, April 25 (HealthDay News) -- For pregnant and postpartum women, a single complete compression ultrasonography may safely exclude a diagnosis of deep vein thrombosis, according to a study published online April 24 in BMJ.
Grégoire Le Gal, M.D., from the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de la Cavale Blanche in Brest, France, and colleagues conducted a prospective outcome study to assess the safety of using single complete compression ultrasonography in 226 pregnant and postpartum women to rule out deep vein thrombosis. Women with a negative result did not receive anticoagulant therapy and were followed for three months.
The researchers found that deep vein thrombosis was diagnosed in 22 (10.5 percent) of the 210 women who completed the study. Despite a negative test result, 10 women received full-dose anticoagulation. Objectively confirmed deep vein thrombosis was identified during follow-up in two of the 177 women without deep vein thrombosis who did not receive full-dose anticoagulant therapy (1.1 percent).
"Our study shows that single complete compression ultrasonography might safely rule out the diagnosis of deep vein thrombosis in pregnant and postpartum women," the authors write. "Further investigations should aim at confirming these results and evaluating the use of compression ultrasonography in a sequential diagnostic strategy, including assessment of clinical probability and D-dimer measurement."
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