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Microfoams the best treatment for varicose ulcers

September 15, 2004

According to a research, sclerosants in microfoam are the treatment of choice for ulcers of varicose origin. The study brings together the results of more than ten years of monitoring 116 patients affected by varicose ulcers being treated in Granada, Pamplona and Madrid. On comparing these with data from other novel therapies, it was shown that sclerotherapy with microfoam provided a more rapid and permanent healing with less complications.

Ulcers on the legs are chronic lesions that can be very painful and crippling for patients, and which are thus frequently reflected in medical certificates for inability to work. Of these ulcers, those with a varicose origin are the most frequent, reaching 80% of the total. The rest are of arterial and neurological origin. One of the clinical treatments for varicose ulcers of the leg is the compression bandage together with the use of new poultices, which favour healing but, on not dealing with the underlying cause, the problem resurfaces with time.

Varicose ulcers have their origin in venous hypertension, the result of varices or venous insufficiency in the patient. Treatment of this high blood pressure used to be dealt with surgically, either with open surgery - which is aggressive -, or by means of subfascial endoscopic surgery which, although a newer technique, has certain limitations such as, for example, access to the veins of the ankles, where 30% of ulcers occur. The microfoam offers the advantage of treating the venous hypertension in a less intrusive form, and so is the ideal therapeutic alternative for varicose ulcers.

Procedure

Sclerotherapy is the classical treatment traditionally using liquid agents large-sized, given toxicity and dosage problems. At the beginning of the nineties, Dr. Juan Cabrera developed the microfoam as a sclerosing agent. Using a very small quantity and in low concentration, an efficacious volume of microfoam is achieved that can treat the larger veins. This has enabled its application in the treatment of chronic varicose veins.

The sclerosant treatment starts with locating the affected veins by means of imaging techniques. Then a puncture of the vein is carried out, guided by eco-doppler, and a catheter is inserted in order to inject the microfoam. The technique does not require the patient to be anaesthetised or even prone. Once the application is finished, an elastic bandage is applied and the patient may return home. In this way, his or her normal, everyday activity remains uninterrupted and days of work through sickness are significantly reduced. Moreover, we have shown that the first session of the treatment radically reduces the pain and the patient can lead a normal life.

Elhuyar Fundazioa