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. 1970 Jan 24;1(5690):195–197. doi: 10.1136/bmj.1.5690.195

Thermographic Localization of Incompetent Perforating Veins in the Leg

K D Patil, J R Williams, K Lloyd Williams
PMCID: PMC1699323  PMID: 4904934

Abstract

Incompetent perforating veins in the leg were localized separately by clinical and thermographic methods. Clinically, the methods used were a multiple tourniquet test and palpation for fascial defects. Thermographically, the diagnosis of an incompetent perforator was made by finding rapid and localized heat flow to the skin in a cooled limb with occlusion of circulation in the superficial veins distally and proximally. Exploration of all the sites marked clinically or thermographically showed that the clinical method detected 60%, missed 40%, and gave false-positive results in 40%, while thermography detected 94·5%, missed 5·5%, and contributed 13% false-positive results. All these findings show a highly significant difference (P<0.0005) in favour of the thermographic technique as against the clinical method.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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