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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Is It Possible That A Clot Could Not Have Been Identified On Doppler?

Patient has severe swelling, inflammation and pain in the left ankle and cannot support weight and has limited range of motion. The swelling and pain came on suddenly two days age and are not a result of injury. Patient has a low grade fever. The veins on the shin now appear to be bulging. Since the onset, they have drawn labs and uric acid levels and white blood cell counts were determined to be within normal range. Yesterday the patient went to ER for pain management and they performed a Doppler to look for a clot; no clot identified. The patient reports that the swelling and pain are still progressing. He was prescribed a Medrol pack and morphine for pain both which do not appear to be helping . Is it still possible that there could be a clot that was not identified in the Doppler?
posted on Wed, 26 Mar 2014
Twitter Mon, 31 Mar 2014 Answered on
Twitter Mon, 31 Mar 2014 Last reviewed on
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Radiologist,  's  Response
Hi,
Thanks for writing in.

In most situations the doctor will be careful enough to double check for a clot. If there was no clot then its most likely that they are right. However, Doppler has got certain limitations and the leg veins may not be clearly visible if the patient is over weight or there is severe edematous swelling in the legs.
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Is It Possible That A Clot Could Not Have Been Identified On Doppler?

Hi, Thanks for writing in. In most situations the doctor will be careful enough to double check for a clot. If there was no clot then its most likely that they are right. However, Doppler has got certain limitations and the leg veins may not be clearly visible if the patient is over weight or there is severe edematous swelling in the legs.