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Brian Sapp: Why Exact Calf Vein Naming Is Critical for DVT Diagnosis?

Brian Sapp/LinkedIn

Oct 23, 2026, 15:49

Brian Sapp: Why Exact Calf Vein Naming Is Critical for DVT Diagnosis?

Brian Sapp, President of Torsade, shared a post on LinkedIn:

“Let’s talk about the Jalen Hurts situation from the scanning side.

Here’s what’s been reported.

He took a cleat to the calf on October 4.

An ultrasound in London on October 10 showed what was called a left calf superficial vein thrombosis, and he was cleared to play.

A follow-up ultrasound on the 14th showed movement in the clot.

By October 19, the diagnosis was DVT with bilateral PE, and he’s now on blood thinners.

The vein involved hasn’t been released, and I haven’t seen his images, so I’m not judging anyone’s care.

But the word “superficial” next to “calf” should make every sonographer stop and ask one question: which calf vein?

The gastrocnemius and soleal veins sit in the muscle, under the deep fascia. They’re deep veins. A clot there is a DVT, even though it can feel like a “muscle clot” to people outside our field.

SVU’s current Professional Performance Guideline for Lower Extremity Venous Duplex Evaluation for Obstruction (updated April 2026) puts this in writing.

The minimum compression sites include the gastrocnemius veins and the soleal vein(s) when visualized, right alongside the posterior tibial, peroneal, popliteal, femoral, GSV and SSV.

The updated insufficiency guideline goes further and says these veins are required because muscular vein thrombosis makes up a big share of lower extremity DVT and can be missed if you don’t specifically look.

So if your lab protocol stops at the popliteal, or skips the muscular calf veins, now’s a good time to pull it out and compare.

Scan the whole calf. Name the exact vein. Measure it, and note how close it is to the deep system. That detail changes the conversation.

These are my own thoughts for education, not an official SVU statement.

Brian Sapp

Guideline.”

Brian Sapp