painful left leg+ ankle

hi i have a painful left leg from groin to ankle,its slightly swollen,have been to hosp as i have history of dvt+pe,all that was done was a blood test they didnt do venogram or anything else,iv been told to return in few days but im not happy with that or the treatment i recieved,im just very worried,its far more painful at nights,my ankle has burning sensation as does my calf muscle please please can you help,thankyou.

[J.M. Keyes, MD]

I am sure that this must be a worrisome situation for you, with your history.  I imagine that the blod test you had was a d-dimer (a test that is usually positive if you have a clot), but I cannot be 100% sure of this, and as a result I can only tell you that you need to go to the ER urgently and have this checked out again.  

Studies have shown that d-dimer testing is a good test to rule out a clot if negative, but even with a negative d-dimer, a small minority of patients do have a clot, and as a result can die from this.  The "small minority" obviously isn't very reassuring if this small minority is you.  

I think for your health and peace of mind, go to the ER, and request a venogram or ultrasound.  If that is also negative, still be sure to follow-up with your doctor, because you need to find the cause of your symptoms, even if it isn't DVT.

Good luck.
JMK MD