Patients with symptomatic deep venous thrombosis, especially those without transient risk factors for deep venous thrombosis, have a high risk for recurrent venous thromboembolism that persists for many years. The post-thrombotic syndrome occurs in almost one third of these patients and is strongly related to ipsilateral recurrent deep venous thrombosis. These findings challenge the widely adopted use of short-course anticoagulation therapy in patients with symptomatic deep venous thrombosis.

Objective: To evaluate the safety of withholding anticoagulant treatment from patients with clinically suspected deep vein thrombosis but normal findings on compression ultrasonography.

The risk of recurrent venous thromboembolism in patients with Arg506->G1n mutation in the gene for factor V (factor V Leiden) Simioni, P.; Prandoni, P.; Lensing, A.W.A.; Scudeller, A.; Sardella, C.; Prins, M.H.; Villalta, S.; Dazzi, F.; Girolami, A.

The serial ultrasound measurement of thrombus mass after an acute episode of DVT may allow the correct identification of patients who develop a recurrent proximal-vein thrombosis.