Which varicose vein treatment is best?

Three common treatments for debilitating varicose veins all ease symptoms, even though there might be minor differences in quality of life months later.

That is the conclusion of a clinical trial that compared the 3 treatments – surgery, laser ablation treatment and injections of a chemical foam (sclerotherapy).

British researchers found that among nearly 800 patients they treated, each the therapies relieved symptoms like pain, swelling and itchy skin to a similar level.

Laser therapy was likely to cause minor complications like swelling or bleeding during the process.

Six months later, patients who had received foam injections were providing slightly lower ratings to their quality of life, versus those who had surgery or laser treatment.

Fundamentally, this is a well-designed study that demonstrates these remedies are similarly safe and effective.

The study followed patients for just six months, therefore the findings imply nothing about the remedies'”long term durability.”

While the incidence of varicose veins differs widely from country to country, a widely-cited study published in the journal angiology ndicates that the worldwide prevalence is 7 percent.

Visible varicose veins are generally no more than a cosmetic nuisance.

Conventional surgery to eliminate the problem veins is no longer widely used in america. But it might be necessary once the varicose veins are especially large.

The other two remedies – laser ablation and foam injections – operate by causing varicose veins to shut off, according to the Society for Vascular Surgery. In laser ablation, heat is applied to the inside of the vein, through a thin tube threaded into the boat. Foam injections discharge chemical peels into the vein wall, which eventually causes the vessel to fall and disappear.

Studies have shown that the therapies are great at”obliterating” issue veins, the lead researcher on the study and a professor of vascular surgery have been conducting the study.

However, this study, is the first to compare the three treatments in terms of how patients rate their quality of life six months after.

In general, her team discovered, patients were more happy versus their pre-treatment days.

Read: Lasers mend varicose veins

Foam therapy is less invasive

The foam patients, however, did report less improvement in their”disease-related” quality of life – that measures things like pain drugs use and self-consciousness about sporting leg-baring clothes, according to the study.

The findings will”provide a boost to foam” as a treatment alternative for varicose veins. At the moment, the most common treatments are laser ablation and a similar process which uses radio frequency waves as the heat source .

Foam is considered to be less invasive than ablation and it costs less. The drawback is that it can take many treatments for it to work.

In the present study, foam injections were most likely to fully knock out the primary branches of the great saphenous vein, which runs the length of the leg. Foam was only effective in the key branches of the vein for 55 percent of patients, versus over 80 percent of patients treated with surgery or laser treatment, the study reported.

In terms of prices, she said her team is considering how things balance out over five decades, so that they can take those replicate treatments into consideration.

The main point, is that patients need to explore the pros and cons of various treatments with their physician. Individual doctors have a tendency to stay with a couple of therapies that they favor.