title: Venous morphology predicts class of chronic venous insufficiency.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  this study aimed to determine specific morphological differences in long saphenous veins from patients with various grades of chronic venous insufficiency.
  
  
  METHODS
  comparable veins from a control group were compared with patients with either primary varicose veins or those with associated skin changes including venous ulcers.
  
  
  METHODS
  below-knee segments of saphenous vein were examined from a total of 64 patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  veins were examined for elastic-tissue disruption and endothelial-cell changes and comparisons made between clinical groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  elastic-tissue disruption, as measured by fragmentation of the elastic lamina and the percentage of the intimal-medial boundary containing elastin, increased with increasing severity of venous disease. Moreover, endothelial cells became more densely packed, as measured by endothelial cell and endothelial-cell nuclei density, with increasing severity of disease. Other measures such as the density of multinucleated "giant" endothelial cells and the number of nuclei per "giant" cell did not correlate with venous disease, however.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  this study demonstrates that several morphological characteristics of superficial saphenous veins correlate with severity of venous disease. In particular, the alterations to the structure of elastic tissue within these veins appears indicative of the progressive nature of chronic venous insufficiency.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Otago Medical School, Dunedin, New Zealand.
authors.forename: G T
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Solomon
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Moaveni
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: van Rij
authors.forename: I A
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Thomson
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Galvin
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D002452:Cell Count; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004547:Elastic Tissue / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007866:Leg / Q000098:blood supply*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012501:Saphenous Vein / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D018616:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Duplex; D014647:Varicose Ulcer / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D014689:Venous Insufficiency / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology