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Compare Alternatives: Vein Stripping
Vein Stripping
Vein stripping and ligation surgery has historically been the standard treatment for addressing reflux in the great saphenous vein. Vein stripping typically involves general anesthesia in a hospital outpatient setting and begins with groin surgery to expose and ligate, or tie off, the diseased great saphenous vein and surrounding tributary veins. Next, a stripping tool is inserted at the groin, threaded through the great saphenous vein along the length of the thigh and out through the skin just below the knee. The top of the great saphenous vein is then tied to the stripping tool, which is pulled from below the knee to remove the vein from the body. Branch veins connected to the great saphenous vein are broken as it is removed from the thigh.
A commonly cited study of vein stripping and ligation surgery published in 1999 in the Journal of Vascular Surgery reported elimination of reflux in 71% of 51 limbs studied five years after treatment. Two year results from this study published in 1996 in the European Journal of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery reported elimination of reflux in 87% of 53 limbs studied after vein stripping surgery. Although vein stripping effectively treats saphenous vein reflux, the surgery can be traumatic. Recuperation may require days to weeks before patients resume normal activities or return to work. Other primary drawbacks of vein stripping include that it:
- is an invasive procedure requiring groin surgery;
- routinely involves post-operative pain, discomfort and tenderness, which limits patients’ physical activities during recovery;
- often results in significant bruising of the thigh and temporary discoloration of the skin;
- is typically performed using general anesthesia, exposing the patient to additional risk; and
- may cause nerve injury.
To read the story of a patient who has received both the vein stripping and Closure procedure, click here.
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Post-Treatment
48 hours2 |
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1. Procedures performed at regional ACP Meeting, June 2001.
2. Data on File - VNUS Medical Technologies, Inc.
3. Lurie, F, et al.Prospective randomized study of endovenous radiofrequency obliteration (Closure procedure) versus ligation and stripping in a selected patient population (EVOLVeS Study), J Vasc Surg 2003; 38(2):207-14.
4. Merchant RF, DePalma RG, Kabnick LS. Endovascular obliteration of saphenous reflux: A multicenter study. J Vasc Surg 2002;35:1190-6
5. Weiss RA, et al. Controlled Radiofrequency Endovenous Occlusion Using a Unique Radiofrequency Catheter Under Duplex Guidance to Eliminate Saphenous Varicose Vein Reflux: A 2-Year Follow-up, Dermatologic Surgery, Jan 2002; 28:1: 38-42
6. Jones L, et al. Neovascularisation is the principal cause of varicose vein recurrence: results of a randomized trial of stripping the long saphenous vein, Eur J Vasc Endovasc Surg, 1996; 12: 442-445
7. Morrison N. Presented at the Union Internationale de Phlebologie, Rome, September 2001.
8. Pichot O, et al. Role of Duplex Imaging in Endovenous Obliteration for Primary Venous Insufficiency. J. Endovasc Ther 2000; 7:451-9.
9. Proebstle TM, et al. Endovenous Treatment of the Greater Saphenous Vein with a 940 nm Diode Laser: Thrombotic Occlusion after Endoluminal Thermal Damage by Laser Generated Steam Bubbles, J Vasc Surg 2002; 35: 729-736.
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