A clinical study on serial retrograde venography of the lower extremity with varicose veins.

Venography furnishes a map of the otherwise invisible deep veins of the extremities, discloses pathological changes, localizes the communicating veins, and tests the function of veins and valves. This clinical study, was carried out to evaluate the serial retrograde venography of the lower extremities with varicose veins, using the serial long film changer with a tilt. Forty-three extremities with varicose veins of twenty-six patients were examined with both ascending and retrograde venographies, and the visualization of the veins, their valves and communicating veins were discussed. Good contrast filling of the veins was obtained mainly in the part of the leg by ascending venography, but the superficial femoral vein was opacified only in a half of the cases studied. In retrograde venography, the contrast medium drifted downward, filling the superficial femoral and popliteal veins, and entered the more distal leg veins in about one half of the cases. The venous valves in the deep thigh veins were visualized in more than 40% the retrograde venography, but less frequently by ascending venography. In retrograde venography, the visualization of the communicating veins in the thigh was about 50%, but that in the leg about 25%. It is concluded that retrograde venography is a safe and convenient method to study the hemodynamics of varicose veins in the lower extremities.