The clip below demonstrates normal right femoral anatomy. The structure with the asterisk is the right common femoral vein and the arrow is pointing to a branch of the right femoral vein. What is the name of the branch and what is its importance during lower extremity ultrasound?
Answer: Greater Saphenous Vein; it is one of the two regions that should be compressed when evaluating for a lower extremity DVT in the Emergency Department (the other is at the trifurcation of the popliteal vein).
Here is a podcast from the Ultrasound Podcast describing the entire bedisde DVT exam http://www.ultrasoundpodcast.com/2011/08/dvt/
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