Seventy-eight limbs of forty-eight patients undergoing total hip
replacement were studied by roentgenographic phlebography, cuff-impedance
phlebography, and 125I fibrinogen scanning. Compared with roentgenographic
phlebography, cuff-impedance phlebography detected seven of ten thrombi in
the thigh but none of nine thrombi in the calf and popliteal veins, giving
an over-all accuracy of 80 per cent. The 125I fibrinogen scanning technique
detected none of the ten thrombi in the thigh and seven of the nine in the
calf and popliteal veins, giving an over-all accuracy of 78 per cent.
Combining the results of the two techniques, fourteen of the nineteen
thrombi were detected. Cuff-impedance phlebography appears to be a useful
method for the diagnosis of thrombi in the thigh after hip surgery.