Pathologic physiology of stasis syndrome.

Abstract

COMPLICATIONS associated with varicose veins are important because of their frequent occurrence and the disability and suffering which they cause. Approximately 10 to 17% of the population have varicose veins, 1 75% of all varices occur before the age of 30. After the second decade, varices occur four times as often in women as in men. The chief complications of varicose veins are of great economic importance because of their frequency in the adult age group. In the United States, it is conservatively estimated that there are 300,000 to 400,000 people with leg ulcers. 2 The objective complications of varicose veins include edema, pigmentation, eczema, cellulitis, phlebitis, cutaneous sclerosis, and frank ulceration. 3 These complications have as a common denominator chronic venous insufficiency. Any one or a combination of these changes may occur in a lifetime, depending on the effectiveness of appropriate therapy. The term stasis syndrome is used to imply a condition of chronic