Kevin Varghese, Nita Hubert, Kevin Saji Thomas, Sara Ammu Chacko and Laly Jose
Background: Ultrasound guided foam Sclerotherapy (UGFS) is a simple and cost effective procedure in the management of lower limb varicose vein with very few studies on Indian population. This study is focused on clinical improvement evaluated by venous clinical severity score (VCSS) at 2 months following UGFS, in a rural population in South Kerala.
Objective: To assess improvement in Venous Clinical Severity Scoring (VCSS), two months following UGFS in lower limb varicose veins.
Methods: A prospective, observational study of 58 cases was done between December 2015 and November 2016, in a rural population in Kerala. 58 patients underwent UGFS during the study and their pre UGFS VCSS score was documented. Of these, 49 patients came back for follow up at 2 months, for post UGFS VCSS and Duplex Doppler evaluation to assess the effectiveness of UGFS.
Results: Pre procedure VCSS score of 49 patients, ranged between 3.0-19.0 (Mean=10.7) and post procedure VCSS were between 2-16 (Mean=7.6), which is statistically significant (P=0.01). Decrease in VCSS score by about 3-5 was noted in 44 out of the 49 patients who had successful outcome with no persistent reflux and clinical improvement was also seen in 5 patients with persistent reflux. Of the 19 patients with venous ulcer, there was healing of ulcer at 2 month post UGFS review.
Conclusion: UGFS is a simple, cost effective procedure which leads to significant improvement in clinical symptoms and decreasing morbidity associated with chronic venous disease.