Sclerotherapy
| Sclerotherapy | |
|---|---|
| Intervention | |
| ICD-9-CM | 39.92 |
| MeSH | D015911 |
Sclerotherapy is a procedure used to treat blood vessels or blood vessel malformations (vascular malformations) and also those of the lymphatic system. A medicine is injected into the vessels, which makes them shrink. It is used for children and young adults with vascular or lymphatic malformations. In adults, sclerotherapy is often used to treat spider veins, smaller varicose veins, hemorrhoids and hydroceles.
Sclerotherapy is one method, along with surgery, radiofrequency and laser ablation, for treatment of spider veins, occasionally varicose veins, and venous malformations. In ultrasound-guided sclerotherapy, ultrasound is used to visualize the underlying vein so the physician can deliver and monitor the injection. Sclerotherapy often takes place under ultrasound guidance after venous abnormalities have been diagnosed with duplex ultrasound. Sclerotherapy under ultrasound guidance and using microfoam sclerosants has been shown to be effective in controlling reflux from the sapheno-femoral and sapheno-popliteal junctions. However, some authors believe that sclerotherapy is not suitable for veins with reflux from the greater or lesser saphenous junction, or for veins with axial reflux.
Sclerotherapy has been used in the treatment of spider veins and occasionally varicose veins for over 150 years. Like varicose vein surgery, sclerotherapy techniques have evolved during that time. Modern techniques including ultrasonographic guidance and foam sclerotherapy are the latest developments in this evolution.
The first reported attempt at sclerotherapy was by D Zollikofer in Switzerland, 1682 who injected an acid into a vein to induce thrombus formation. Both Debout and Cassaignaic reported success in treating varicose veins by injecting perchlorate of iron in 1853. Desgranges in 1854 cured 16 cases of varicose veins by injecting iodine and tannin into the veins. This was approximately 12 years after the probable advent of great saphenous vein stripping in 1844 by Madelung. However, due to high rates of side-effects with the drugs used at the time, sclerotherapy had been practically abandoned by 1894. With the improvements in surgical techniques and anaesthetics over that time, stripping became the treatment of choice.
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