Walsh & Hoyt: Diagnosis

The diagnosis of internal jugular vein thrombosis is not difficult and can be made noninvasively by contrast-enhanced CT scanning, standard MR imaging, or MR angiography. It may also be readily diagnosed using ultrasonography which can be performed as a bedside procedure. Bessoudo et al. considered retrograde catheter venography to be the most definitive means of diagnosing this condition, but this procedure carries the risk of perforating a vein and dislodging a thrombus. Based on its high sensitivity and low risk, MR angiography appears to be the optimum noninvasive method of imaging this region.