Evaluation of liquid or foam sclerotherapy in small varicose veins (ceap c1) with venous clinical severity score.

Abstract

We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of liquid or foam sclerotherapy of varicose veins using venous clinical severity scores and possible complications. A total of 318 patients (268 females, 50 males) who were treated with liquid or foam sclerotherapy between January 2012 and December 2012 were included in this study. Skin necrosis was observed in only 6 patients (1. 8%), thrombophlebitis in 10 patients (3. 1%), and hyperpigmentation in 18 patients (5. 6%) in this study group. The mean venous clinical severity score was calculated as: pain score, 1. 23 ± 0.88; varicose vein score,1.85 ± 0. 8; edema score, 0.64 ± 0.77). Pain and edema decreased at the control examination, 1 month after completion of sclerotherapy sessions. Varicose veins completely disappeared after sclerotherapy. While the decrease in edema in the foam sclerotherapy group was significantly less (P<0.001), the decline in pain showed an increasing trend (P=0.069). While skin necrosis did not develop after foam sclerotherapy, rates of pigmentation and local thrombophlebitis were similar (P>0.05). In conclusion, we observed that both sclerotherapy methods are effective with a low rate of complications, alleviating the complaints of patients with small varicose veins, and providing considerable improvement in venous clinical severity scores.