Sonographic Findings in Patients With Lower Limb Swelling, Seen at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, Eldoret, Kenya.

Abstract

Background: Imaging modalities in lower limb swelling play a major role in identifying various pathologies that have significant impact in clinical outcomes. Ultrasonography has been shown to have comparable outcome with advanced techniques like Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) in soft tissue imaging and it is real time and fairly non-invasive. Objectives: To evaluate clinical findings and describe patterns of sonographic findings in lower limb swelling at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) Eldoret, Kenya. Methods: This was a cross sectional study done in the MTRH, Radiology and Imaging Department. Using purposive sampling, 109 patients were recruited. 4 declined consent while 2 withdrew. Data was analyzed using STATA version 10. Descriptive statistics were used for continuous variables while frequency listings were used for categorical variables. Chi square test was used to assess associations between categorical variables. Results: Their median age was 41 years and the majority were women 67(65%). The main complaint was unilateral lower limb swelling 80 (77.7%), and pain in 54(52.4%). Trauma and immobility were in 18(17.5%) and 19(18.4%) respectively. The main clinical examination finding was localized swelling in 63(61.2%), the commonest location being in the lower leg 52(50.5%). Redness was in 31(30.1%) while tenderness was demonstrated in 41(39.8%) cases. The most frequent sonographic finding was deep venous thrombosis (DVT) 39(37.9%). Lymphadenopathy and oedema were 9(8.7%) each while varicose veins and cellulitis were 7(6.8%) and 6(5.8%) respectively. Conclusion: The most frequent finding in lower limb swelling was deep venous thrombosis (DVT).