Source: Psycho-Oncology  |  Posted 9 years ago

Proximal deep vein thrombosis is more frequent in patients with recurrent than with first deep vein thrombosis although incidence of pulmonary embolism in these two groups is similar.

These are the conclusions of a retrospective study at Wilhelminen Hospital, Vienna, Austria, aimed at documenting the extent of thrombus in people with recurrent and those with first deep vein thrombosis (DVT).

Dr Astrid M. Fink and colleagues from the hospital's Department of Dermatology separated 864 patients with DVT of the leg into two groups: 233 with recurrent DVT of the leg and 631 with first DVT.

The researchers used duplex scanning, contrast venography or magnetic resonance imaging to evaluate the extent of the thrombus in all patients.

Thrombus involving veins distal to the popliteal vein was classified as distal DVT, and thrombus involving the popliteal vein and proximal was classified as proximal DVT.

Analysis indicated involvement of proximal segments was significantly more frequent in patients with recurrent DVT than in those with the first DVT.

The incidence of pulmonary embolism (PE) and the clinical symptoms of PE were found to be equally distributed between patients with recurrent DVT and those with first DVT.

Only one patient died as a consequence of PE in this group of study patients.