COMPARISON OF CLINICAL EFFICACY OF POLYDOCARYL FOAM SCLEROTHERAPY WITH CONVENTIONAL SURGERY FOR VARICOSE VEINS IN LOWER EXTREMITIES

Tao Zhou^#, Wenfeng Lei^#, Fuhua Wang, Li He, Shengpan Jiang, Xuan Liu, Shilin Zheng, Yiqing Tan^*

Tongren Hospital of WuHan University (WuHan Third Hospital) / Department of Interventional Medicine in Guanggu Hospital, Wuhan 430064, PR China

Objective: To investigate the clinical efficacy of polydocartanol foam sclerotherapy and conventional surgery in the treatment of varicose veins in lower extremities. 

Methods: 112 cases of VVLE patients hospitalized in the vascular surgery department of our hospital from September 2017 to August 2019 were included and divided into experimental group and control group according to different surgical methods, with 56 cases in each group. Both groups of VVLE patients received routine preoperative surgical examination and epidural anesthesia, in which the control group received conventional surgical treatment (high ligation and stripping of the great saphenous vein), and the experimental group received polydocartanol foam sclerosis. The operative time, length of hospital stay, intraoperative blood loss, subjective feeling improvement, postoperative pain (whether there is local pain, whether to take painkillers), and incidence of symptoms were observed and analyzed in each group. 

Results: Compared with the control group and experimental group, the operative time, hospital stay, and intraoperative blood loss were significantly reduced (P<0.05). Compared with the control group, there was no statistically significant difference in the subjective feelings of VVLE patients in the experimental group (P>0.05). Of the 56 VVLE patients in the experimental group (101 affected limbs), 32 (31.68%) had local pain, and 6 (10.71%) needed to take painkillers. Among the 56 patients with VVLE in the control group (105 affected limbs), 69 (65.71%) had local tenderness, and 21 (37.50%) needed a painkiller. The difference in the local pain rate and the painkiller rate between the two groups was statistically significant compared with the control group (P<0.05). In the experimental group, 3 (5.36%) cases of thrombophlebitis, 4 (7.14%) cases of skin pigmentation, and 3 (5.36%) cases of varicose vein residue occurred in VVLE patients, with a total incidence of 17.86%. In the control group, there were 6 (10.71%) cases of thrombophlebitis, 6 (10.71%) cases of skin pigmentation, 4 (7.14%) cases of varicose vein residue, and 7 (12.50%) cases of skin paresthesia, for a total of 41.07%. The difference in the postoperative complication rate between the two groups of VVLE patients was statistically significant (P<0.05). 

Conclusion: Polydocaryl foam sclerotherapy can effectively promote the recovery of VVLE patients and relieve their pain with higher safety and reliability. Compared with traditional surgical treatment, polydocaryl foam sclerotherapy has significant advantages, strong practicability, and is expected to be a new treatment method to replace traditional surgery.