An essential scan from saphenous-femoral junction to the popliteal trifurcation into calf veins can effectively and accurately rule-in an acute thrombus in the deep venous system of the leg.
in a patient with unexplained leg edema i can search for a d veinous thrombosis by using a linear scanner on the venous preset i'm going to start my scan proximally at the common femoral vein identifying the common femoral vein next to the common femoral artery and making sure i identify the saphenous takeoff once i've seen the saphenous vein and the take off i'm going to start compression making sure that the anterior and posterior walls of the vein completely collapse i'm repeating this as i go down the adductor canal every few centimeters compressing until i lose sight of the vein and then i'll move into the popliteal fossa and here i'm going to identify the popliteal vein at its most proximal aspect i can and repeat compressions all the way down the palpation fossa until it trifurcates into the calf veins once i've accomplished that all the way down the leg i can feel confident that there's no deep veinous thrombosis
