[Edema, heavy legs and popliteal compression].

Fifty patients with edema and heaviness of the lower limbs lacking any general or local explanation were investigated by a plethysmographic method to detect venous stasis of the calf. In 27 of them, hyperextension of the knee produced venous stasis, which was only elicited in one of 39 normal subjects. In 9 patients with edema of systemic origin there was no stasis when the knee was extended. Intermittent venous stasis due to hyperextension of the knee therefore appears to be a causal phenomenon in many cases of edema of unknown origin. A popliteal cyst was found in 9 of 16 patients who underwent knee arthropathy. Further studies are necessary to determine what mechanisms may produce venous stasis when the knee is placed in hyperextension.