>TC wrote:
>>
>> Cindy
>>
>> There were no palpable pelvic masses in either groin and scanning in the
>> groin didn't show any evidence of clot or mass.  The VQ scan showed low
>> probability of embolis, though he is now being treated as possible
>> pulmonary infarct.
>>
>> Tim
>>
>> Any other ideas?
>
>
>Tim,
>
>        I saw a similar finding once in a patient with a history of several
>previous PE's.  I described it as "thick looking blood" although in my
>case it did not seem to impair the ability to compress the veins
>easily.  Were the veins compressible in your case?  I floated the idea
>here on flownet and the most reasonable response I got was the
>possibilty of rouleux (sp?) formations.  As I recall from studying for
>the boards, this occurs when the rbc's align themselves in rows like
>stacks of coins causing more reflections at the interfaces and resulting
>in the echogenic look.  any thoughts???



Bill

The veins were compressible, yet the flow in the veins was almost
stagnated. Still scratching my head over this one. I did have one other
case similar to this. It was an OB patient in labor with sudden onset of
leg pain and swelling. Her veins in one leg looked almost identical to this
gentleman's, but the hemostasis was all the way up the leg due to the
compression of the uterus.

Tim