Reporting standards in venous disease.  Prepared by the Subcommittee on Reporting Standards in Venous Disease, Ad Hoc Committee on Reporting Standards, Society for Vascular Surgery/North American Chapter, International Society for Cardiovascular Surgery. 
This report comprises suggested reporting standards for publications dealing with (1) acute lower extremity venous thrombosis, (2) chronic lower extremity venous insufficiency, (3) upper extremity venous thrombosis, and (4) pulmonary embolism.  Attempts have been made to set forth numeric grading schemes for disease severity, risk factors, and outcome criteria.  Some of the recommendations had to be arbitrary of necessity, but they were judged the most generally acceptable by members of the committee.  They are offered not as binding rules but as guidelines whose observance will serve the clarity and precision of communication.