Leg pain/swelling

Differential Diagnosis

• DVT
• Orthopaedic eg. Trauma
• Rheumatological eg. Arthritis
• Cancer - Bony metastases.
• Diabetic neuropathy
• Oedema
  • Cardiac failure
  • Hypoalbuminaemia
  • Venous statis
• Cellulitis
• Growing pains

Clinical and Associated Features

• DVT - will be unilateral, painful, swollen, skin colour change, hot. History of drug abuse, recent flying, recent surgery or being stationary a lot, increase risk of it being a DVT.
• Diabetic neuropathy - you basically lose feeling in your feet. You can get pain occasionally though.
• Cardiac failure, hypoalbuminaemia and venous stasis- bilateral, worse on standing, pitting oedema if it's bad
• Cellulitis - red hot painful swelling.
• Orthopaedic - worse on movement, history of trauma, should be fairly obvious
• Rheumatological - gets worse over time. Essentially, you need to know some stuff about rheumatology.