The Venous Duplex Exam is essentially a test to determine how blood flows through your veins.
It utilizes duplex ultrasonography to search the upper and lower extremity veins for deep and/or superficial venous blood clots.
In addition to determining the absence or presence of such clots, venous duplex examinations can also be used to determine venous insufficiency and varicose veins. In fact, this exam is helpful in a variety of diagnoses, including: venous insufficiency, suspected deep vein thrombosis of the lower and/or upper extremity, swelling of the extremities, superficial phlebitis of the lower or upper extremity, venous stasis disease, leg edema following knee or hip replacement, cellulitis of the extremity, vein mapping for cardiac bypass or lower extremity arterial bypass, and synovial cysts.
