Laser as good as surgery for varicose
A new study suggests that new laser ablation therapy technique appears to work about as well as the standard surgery to remove varicose veins.
Varicose veins are twisted, enlarged veins near the surface of the skin, mostly in the legs and ankles. Although the condition is not usually serious, it can sometimes lead to other problems such as pain and swelling.
During a two-year study, Dr. Knuth Rass and colleagues at the Saarland University Hospital in Homburg compared the efficacy of laser therapy and surgery in 400 patients with "chronic venous insufficiency" of the great saphenous vein, which runs from the hip to the toes.
Among 316 patients who were available two years after getting either of the therapies, 16 percent of those who had laser treatment and 23 percent of the surgery group developed new varicose veins.
According to the report published in the Archives of Dermatology, the satisfaction level was excellent for patients who undergone either of the studied methods.
The rate of clinically recurrent varicose veins after therapy or other complications was not significantly different for none of the groups.
More patients in the EVLT reached normalized venous refilling and rated their cosmetic outcome at 2 years as significantly better.
Findings suggested that the two treatments seemed equally effective while 98 percent of all patients who said they would undergo each procedure again if medically necessary.
"The patients were remarkably satisfied with the treatment results of both procedures. 98 percent of the study population would undergo each treatment once again. The significantly higher rate and the course of duplex-detected saphenofemoral recurrences after EVLT will remain a matter of further investigations,” researchers concluded.
Source: presstv.ir
