Late Sequelae of Acute Deep Venous Thrombosis: Evaluation Five and Ten Years after

Abstract

Objective:To study the sequelae of an acute deep venous thrombosis (DVT) 5 or 10 years afterwards.Design:A retrospective questionnaire study involving 70 patients with DVT, verified by phlebography 5 and 10 years earlier.Setting:Tampere University Hospital, Finland.Patients:Seventy out of 86 patients who had suffered a definite DVT answered a questionnaire on subjective symptoms and visits to health care organizations.Interventions:All 70 patients were treated initially with heparin and warfarin after the DVT was diagnosed.Main outcome measures:The frequency of late symptoms in the leg with DVT. The relation of the site of the acute DVT to late sequelae.Results:The frequency of asymptomatic patients was only 13%. Typical symptoms were evening pain, oedema and pigmentation. There were no differences between calf DVTs and more proximal DVTs in respect of the late symptoms. All patients with recurrent DVT were symptomatic.Conclusions:The late sequelae of DVT are common and necessitate a considerable number of visits to health care centres. Calf DVTs seem to cause late symptoms as often as more proximal DVTs.