Venous valvular reflux in veins not involved at the time of acute deep vein thrombosis.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to determine whether, in lower extremities with documented episodes of acute deep venous thrombosis (DVT), incompetence develops in veins that were not the site of thrombosis.

METHODS: Patients were monitored with serial duplex ultrasonography at 1 day, 1 week, 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months, and then annually after detection of acute DVT. The following venous segments were analyzed: common femoral, greater saphenous, proximal superficial femoral, deep femoral, popliteal, and posterior tibial. The incidence of reflux development in both thrombosed and uninvolved segments was determined. Reflux was categorized as either transient or permanent.

RESULTS: A total of 227 limbs in 188 patients were serially studied. Mean follow-up was 19.9 months (range 1 to 88 months). Overall, 403 of the 1423 segments (28.3% +/- 2.3%) developed reflux during the study, of which 118 (29.3% +/- 4.4%) had no prior or concurrent history of thrombosis. Considering only the segments that developed incompetence, the percent without prior thrombosis at each level was as follows: common femoral vein (40.0%), greater saphenous vein (53.1%), deep femoral vein (20.6%), proximal superficial femoral vein (23.9%), popliteal vein (8.9%), and posterior tibial vein (31.9%). Valvular insufficiency developing in segments uninvolved with thrombus was more likely to be transient (40.2%) than was the reflux in thrombosed segments (22.6%). This difference was statistically significant (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: Permanent venous valvular damage can occur in the absence of thrombosis after DVT. Reflux in uninvolved venous segments has a different anatomic distribution and is more likely to be transient than the incompetence associated with thrombosis.