Radiolabelled fibrinogen and impedance plethysmography in the diagnosis of deep venous thrombosis.

Abstract

From the Pulmonary Division, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine. Pulmonary embolism continues to be an important cause of death particularly for the in-hospital patient.’ Most thrombi responsible for such events originate in the lower limbs. The clinical diagnosis of such deep-venous thrombosis (DVT) remains notoriously unreliable. Early recognition would permit prompt, appropriate therapy with heparin and hopefully prevent embolization of large clots to the lungs. Recently, two diagnostic aids have become available which offer promise in the early detection of DVT-the radiolabelled p25 fibrinogen test (RLF) 2-4 and impedance plethysmography (IPG).&dquo;7 The theory, methodology and results of these procedures are reviewed briefly in this paper.