Text If a newly conducted study is to be believed then patients suffering from superficial vein thrombosis may have another thing to worry about. It seems that a small ratio of these patients may even have the potentially fatal condition known as deep vein thrombosis. This observation was made by Barbara Binder, MD, of the Medical University of Graz, Austria and colleagues.

Superficial vein thrombosis is stated to be clotting in the blood vessels which are close to the skin. Apparently, this condition is often not considered as a potentially fatal disease.

The study investigators were noted to have assessed around 46 patients in order to better evaluate this criterion. All these patients, who were suffering from superficial vein thrombosis, were stated to have undergone the color-coded duplex sonography imaging test. This test was apparently conducted in order to confirm superficial vein thrombosis in the patients and also to determine if they have or don’t have deep vein thrombosis. More so, the tests were believed to even include D-dimer levels, which is a protein fragment that appears to be greater in deep vein thrombosis patients.

Supposedly, the assessed subjects also reported if they had a history of clotting events, any recent case of immobilization and active malignant disease, use of compression stockings and oral contraceptives.

The study investigators have explained, “Superficial vein thrombosis is a common disease that most often affects the veins of the leg but can also be found in other locations. In the past, not much interest has been focused on superficial vein thrombosis because of its generally benign course. However, recent investigations showed an unsuspected association of superficial vein thrombosis with deep vein thrombosis and thromboembolism [blockage of a blood vessel by a clot that has broken apart].”

Following the tests, it was noticed that around 24% of the patients already suffering from superficial vein thrombosis, had deep vein thrombosis. Deep vein thrombosis condition was also noticed to be asymptomatic most of the time. Apart from that, it was also observed that this condition seemed to take place in the same leg as superficial vein thrombosis in about 73% of the patients. In contrast, this condition seemed to affect the other leg in about 9% of the patients, while affecting both the legs of about 18% of the patients.

These findings indicate that concurrent deep vein thrombosis most often takes place when the lower leg is affected with superficial vein thrombosis. Under such circumstances, assessing the deep veins with color-coded duplex sonography is believed to be helpful in confirming suspected acute deep vein thrombosis.

This study has been published in the Archives of Dermatology, one of the journals of JAMA/Archives.