Diagnosis of arterial disease of the lower extremities with duplex ultrasonography

Dupplex scanning appears to be an accurate non-invasive test for the assessment of arterial occlusive disease of the lower extremities in patients with claudication or critical ischaemia.

A systematic review including 14 studies was abstracted in DARE. Of these 7 assessed the aortoiliac segment, 12 the femoropopliteal segment, and 3 the infragenicular segment.

For the aortoiliac segment, the sensitivity for the detection of greater or equal to 50% stenosis was 80% (95% CI 61% to 93%), and specificity 95% (95% CI 91% to 98%).

For the femoropopliteal segment, the sensitivity for the detection of greater or equal to 50% stenosis was 82% (95% CI 67% to 92%), and specificity 96% (95% CI 93% to 98%).

The sensitivities and specificities for detecting total occlusion in the aortoiliac and femoropopliteal segment were even better than those for the detection of at least 50% stenosis.

For the infragenicular segment, the sensitivity for the detection of occlusion or greater or equal to 50% stenosis was 83% (95% CI 59% to 96%), and specificity 84% (95% CI 69% to 93%).

Comment: The quality of evidence is upgraded by high quality of some original studies and the review.

Ədəbiyyat

1. Koelemay MJ, den Hartog D, Prins MH, Kromhout JG, Legemate DA, Jacobs MJ. Diagnosis of arterial disease of the lower extremities with duplex ultrasonography. Br J Surg 1996 Mar;83(3):404-9.