This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Bergan, J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Bergan, J. Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Sclerotherapy: A Truly Minimally Invasive Technique

Department of Surgery, University of California San Diego and The Vein Institute of La Jolla, California, jbergan{at}ucsd.edu

Foam sclerotherapy offers a treatment strategy with great potential. Recently, general and vascular surgery have become less invasive; so too, has the treatment of venous disorders. Sclerosants cause irreversible damage to the vascular endothelium by disrupting cell membranes resulting in sustained vasospasm and denudation of the venous monolayer. Prospective randomized outcome data support the hypothesis that foam sclerotherapy is superior to liquid sclerotherapy. All published reports of varicose vein treatment with foam describe efficacy in terms of immediate and primary venous occlusion of better than 80%. Severe complications of foam sclerotherapy are rare. Recurrent varices are in the 10% to 20% range. Use of foam sclerotherapy in our experience has proven to be effective, essentially pain-free, and durable in the short term. The treatment is quick, efficient, and cheap.

Key Words: foam sclerotherapy • varicose veins • sclerosants

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?