【Abstract】Objective To evaluate the clinical value of photoplethysmography (PPG) in the diagnosis of venous valvular incompetence of lower extremity. Methods Two hundreds and six lower limbs in 181 patients including primary deep venous incompetence(PDVI), simple superficial veins incompetence and simple cross veins incompetence were examined by PPG in the assessment of venous refill time(VRT). All limbs underwent deep vein venography. Results Using venography as control the sensitivity of PPG was 89.8% and the specificity was 83.3 % in the diagnosis of venous valvular incompetence of lower extremity. Conclusion PPG could be taken as clinical diagnostic method for venous valvular incompetence of the lower extremity. The feature of PPG is noninvasive, painless with nonallergic reaction. The authors suggest that PPG can be used as a screening procedure for performing venography and postoperative follow-up.
