I would appreciate some feedback on what the potential cause of what my 
patient's often referr to as feeling "woozy" during venous insufficiency 
examinations.

We have the patient standing upright on a low stool with a hand on the
rail for support and the leg of interest non weight bearing while the 
patient is scanned and the leg augmented off and on throughout the
examination.  Only 5 minutes into the exam "some" patients complain of 
lightheadedness, nausea, feel like they are going to pass out, etc. and 
must lay flat to recover.  After returning to upright position and
resuming the exam the symptoms reoccur.  These patients are often young
usually normotensive, but may happen to older women and occasionally with
men (we see less men for varicosities).  Some patients do not experience
any symptoms, however, it seems that approximately one half of our
patients do experience some degree of these symptoms. These symptoms seem
like vagal-like response.

What does this mean and what, if anything, should be done about it?

thanks

Bonnie (Wolff) Johnson, RVT, RDMS
Stanford Health Services
Div of Vascular Surgery
Stanford, CA
(415)725-5227