Varicose vein surgery: More complications than other procedures?

Abstract

All methods used in varicose vein therapy go along with a certain amount of risk. Varicose vein surgery is widely spread, and the health risks are described at great length in literature. Referring to the health risks of new methods such as endovenous therapy or foam sclerotherapy one can barely find any reliably facts and figures. Overall, varicose vein surgery including crossectomy, stripping and phlebectomy is accompanied with a higher risk of bleeding and postinterventional infection. Generally, these risks are estimated to be marginal. The risk of perioperative nerve injury appears to be similar in both therapeutic methods. Yet the poor amount of available data regarding endovenous therapy has to be pointed out. The risk of postoperative thrombosis and pulmonary embolism as well as cosmetically affecting proinflammatory hyperpigmentation appear more often after endovenous therapy and foam sclerotherapy than in varicose vein surgery. Complications, such as stripping of the deeper great vein or artery during varicose vein surgery or recovered broken metal parts in the vena cava after endovenous therapy are extremely rare events. Nevertheless, current metanalysis rarely describe any disparity concerning mobility, mortality and health-related quality of life by comparison to the various varicose vein therapies.