Diagnostic Criteria for Venous Duplex
Normal Abnormal
Complete coaptation of the vein walls with light probe pressure Lack of complete vein compression
Absent intraluminal thrombus Intraluminal echoes present (acute thrombus can be echolucent)
Colour flow fills the lumen completely Decrease or absence of colour flow
Normal venous Doppler spontaneity, phasicity and augmentation Abnormal venous Doppler spontaneity, phasicity or augmentation
No venous dilatation Dilated or contracted veins noted

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Interpretation Criteria for Patency: All Veins
Complete coaptation of the vein walls with the ultrasound transducer.
Absence of visible intraluminal thrombus on B-mode image in transverse and longitudinal planes.
Normal venous Doppler (conventional or color) signals of spontaneity and phasicity.
Visualization of blood flow throughout the lumen with color Doppler.
Interpretation Criteria for Venous Thrombosis
Lack of complete compressibility of vein (beware: a normal femoral vein in adductor canal region may not compress). The split-screen image on the right demonstrates the appearance of the popliteal vein without, and with transducer compression. The vein does not compress in the right-side image.

Daigle, R (2009). Techniques in noninvasive vascular diagnosis: An encyclopedia of vascular testing 3rd edition. Littleton, CO: Summer Publishing.