title: Venous leg ulceration pathophysiology and evidence based treatment.
abstract: Venous leg ulceration (VLU) is one of the most predominate medical disorders worldwide and in the western hemisphere it affects around 1.5% of the general population and up to 5% of the elderly population. Unfortunately, this trend will only increase given the growth of an aging population worldwide. Understanding its pathophysiology that begins with venous hemodynamic abnormalities and leads to inflammatory alterations with microcirculatory changes is critical to delivering effective curative therapy. As such, the main component to treatment is reversing the underlying venous hypertension and pro-inflammatory milieu using compression treatment along with various adjuvant therapies. Given its impact, a comprehensive multi-pronged approach to care, treatment and prevention is required to reverse the increasing trend that is observed worldwide.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Section of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of California, Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, CA, USA ywchi@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Yung-Wei
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Chi
authors.affiliation: Vascular Surgery Division, VA Boston Healthcare System, West Roxbury, MA, USA Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Joseph D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Raffetto
mesh_terms: D006439:Hemodynamics / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007866:Leg / Q000098:blood supply*; D007871:Leg Ulcer / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008833:Microcirculation / Q000502:physiology*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014647:Varicose Ulcer / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*
keywords: chronic venous disorder; compression therapy; endovenous therapy; inflammation; venous disease classification; venous leg ulceration