Point-of-Care Ultrasound for a Deep Venous Thrombosis

Patients presenting to the emergency department with lower extremity symptoms suggestive of venous thromboembolic disease require a diagnostic evaluation. Although contrast venography was the diagnostic standard, this has largely been replaced by duplex ultrasound as the first-line imaging modality. This review presents a summary of the literature on the evolution and performance of B-mode point-of-care compression ultrasound as an alternative to duplex ultrasound evaluation. The 2-point compression and 2-region compression techniques are described. The limitations of point-of-care ultrasound of the lower extremity as a diagnostic modality for this disease entity, the role of a D-dimer assay in the emergency department evaluation and future directions for this diagnostic modality are discussed.