Venous Reflux Studies

What is Venous Reflux?

Venous reflux disease develops when the valves that keep blood flowing up the legs and back to the heart become damaged or diseased. This can cause blood to pool in your legs and lead to symptoms such as pain, swelling, swollen limbs, leg heaviness and fatigue, skin changes and skin ulcers, and varicose veins.

Preparing for Venous Reflux studies

Noninvasive tests may be performed as an outpatient, during a hospital stay, or here at Magnolia Health Systems. They are done in a noninvasive vascular laboratory. No special preparation is required. The tests are painless and without risks or side effects. The use of needles, dye or x-ray is not required. No special care is needed after the tests are done.

What happens during the studies?

Impedance plethysmography, also called impedance test or blood flow is a non-invasive test that uses electrical monitoring in the form of resistance changes to measure blood flow in veins of the leg.

Also, tests using ultrasound, sending high frequency sound waves which are reflected from moving red blood cells, can be studied. During the test you will be asked to lie down and slightly bend your knees into a frog-legged position. The examiner places a probe over veins at various locations on your legs and listens with a device that looks like a stethoscope. You may be asked to take a deep breath and hold it, then release your breath quickly, during the test. This test is used to diagnose blood clots or weak valves in the legs.