SUMMARY
OBJECTIVE:
We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of liquid or foam sclerotherapy of varicose veins using venous clinical severity scores and possible complications.
METHODS:
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.
RESULTS:
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).
CONCLUSION:
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.
KEYWORDS:
Venous Clinical Severity Score; Reticular Veins; Sclerotherapy