title: Sclerotherapy: a truly minimally invasive technique.
abstract: Foam sclerotherapy offers a treatment strategy with great potential. Recently, general and vascular surgery have become less invasive; so too, has the treatment of venous disorders. Sclerosants cause irreversible damage to the vascular endothelium by disrupting cell membranes resulting in sustained vasospasm and denudation of the venous monolayer. Prospective randomized outcome data support the hypothesis that foam sclerotherapy is superior to liquid sclerotherapy. All published reports of varicose vein treatment with foam describe efficacy in terms of immediate and primary venous occlusion of better than 80%. Severe complications of foam sclerotherapy are rare. Recurrent varices are in the 10% to 20% range. Use of foam sclerotherapy in our experience has proven to be effective, essentially pain-free, and durable in the short term. The treatment is quick, efficient, and cheap.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of California San Diego and The Vein Institute of La Jolla, California, USA. jbergan@ucsd.edu
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bergan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012597:Sclerosing Solutions / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D015911:Sclerotherapy / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014648:Varicose Veins / Q000628:therapy*
chemical_list: D012597:Sclerosing Solutions