Tuğçe Kübra GÜNEŞ, Murat KARABACAK, Mehmet Umut ÇAPAR, Tülin ERGUN, Rafi Haner DİRESKENELİ, Fatma ALİBAZ ÖNER
Turkish Journal of Medical Sciences - 2026;56(5):1420-1429
Background/aim: Lower extremity deep vein thrombosis (DVT) constitutes 70% of all vascular findings related to Behçet disease (BD). Postthrombotic syndrome (PTS) is a serious complication of DVT that develops due to chronic venous insufficiency and decreases the patient's quality of life. The physician-reported Villalta scale is a widely used and validated diagnostic tool for diagnosing and evaluating the severity of PTS. However, the necessity of physical examination by a physician burdens the clinician during routine practice. For that reason, a patient-reported Villalta scale was developed and validated. This study aimed to translate the patient-reported Villalta scale into Turkish and validate it. Materials and methods: All patients were evaluated using the physician-reported Villalta scale, Clinical-Etiological-Anatomical-Pathophysiological (CEAP) classification, Venous Clinical Severity Score (VCSS), Venous Disability Score (VDS), and patient-reported Villalta scale to diagnose PTS. The VEINES questionnaire and SF-36 were used to evaluate quality of life. Kappa and correlation analysis were performed for validation analysis. Results: One hundred patients with a history of DVT were enrolled in the study, 78 of whom were followed for BD. PTS developed in 52.5% of BD patients with DVT, which was significantly lower compared to non-BD patients (77.3%) (p = 0.038). PTS was detected in 58% (n = 58) of all patients. In kappa compliance analysis of the physician-reported and patient-reported Villalta scales, good agreement was observed (kappa = 0.776, p < 0.001). Between the patient-reported and physician-reported Villalta scales, sensitivity was 98%, specificity 76%, positive predictive value 85%, and negative predictive value 97%. Conclusion: This study aimed to validate the Turkish version of the patient-reported Villalta scale to diagnose PTS. The Turkish version of the patient-reported Villalta scale can reliably and validly diagnose PTS. Its application in daily practice may offer useful guidance for clinicians.
