How are venous ulcers diagnosed?
A venous ulcer can occur anywhere there is reflux between the deep and superficial veins. The first test for a patient with venous reflux should be arterial pulse volume recordings (PVR) and ankle brachial indices (ABI) to determine if they have a mixed arterial and venous disease. Venous reflux testing, which is an ultrasounds, is particularly useful because it not only tells you the pathogenesis, it can also tell the clinician if a deep vein thrombosis is present.
