A system and method prevents and diagnoses deep vein thrombosis in a body limb by providing a pressure sleeve having a plurality of individually fillable cells, the pressure sleeve being configurable to be placed around a body limb. A source fills each fillable cell individually, and a pressure sensor measures a pressure in a fillable cell. A controller establishes a fill sequence of each individually fillable cell and a fill time for each individually fillable cell. The controller causes a first individually fillable cell of the pressure sleeve to be filled to a predetermined pressure and causes the pressure of first individually fillable cell of the pressure sleeve to be measured while a second individually fillable cell of the pressure sleeve is filled. The controller determines a presence of deep vein thrombosis in a body limb having the pressure sleeve therearound based upon a measured pressure change in the first individually fillable cell of the pressure sleeve. The monitored pressure changes reflects the effect of venous obstruction on naturally occurred venous flow fluctuations like those caused by the respiratory cycle, and/or artificially created fluctuations like those caused by inflation of a second pressure cell. Relevant data can be collected during routine system application for deep vein thrombosis prevention on a 24/7 basis. In the case deep vein thrombosis is suspected, a controlled and more sophisticated study can be triggered using the same system.
