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| |  DG DISPATCH - SCVIR: New Laser Treatment Offers Alternative To Surgery For Varicose Veins By Robert H. Carlson Special to DG News
SAN ANTONIO, TX -- March 6, 2001 -- Early research shows that a new laser therapy, the Endo Venous Laser Treatment, may be an alternative to surgery in patients with varicose leg veins.
Robert J. Min, MD, director of Cornell Vascular, New York, said approximately 180 patients have been treated with lasers for painful varicose saphenous veins, and there have been no complications.
"The short-term results have been outstanding," Dr. Min said, reporting on the first 90 patients in a presentation at the annual meeting of the Society of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology, in San Antonio, Texas. "Although some patients have had a little tenderness, almost all can return to normal activity immediately."
Dr. Min is an interventional radiologist who helped develop the Endo Venous Laser Treatment. The procedure is done under local anesthetic and takes about one half hour to complete.
Other treatments for varicose veins include surgical ligation of the vein, which requires general anesthesia, and sclerotherapy, which involves injecting saline or irritant into the vein to cause it to close.
Dr. Min said patients entered this study after they had been given the choice of surgical ligation, sclerotherapy or laser treatment for greater saphenous vein reflux and branch varicosities.
Recurrence of symptoms occurs after ligation in about 10 percent of patients, Dr. Min noted, and symptoms or reopening of the vein reoccur in as many as 50 percent of those undergoing sclerotherapy.
In contrast, he said 89 of the first 90 patients treated with laser had no recurrence of the problem at an average of six months follow-up. He added that years of follow-up will be needed to know the true recurrence rate after laser therapy.
Endo venous laser treatment involves inserting a catheter and a laser fiber into the saphenous vein through a small incision in the groin, at the saphenofemoral junction. Ultrasound imaging is used to position the laser within the varicosed vein, and laser energy heats and seals the vein shut as the laser fiber is slowly withdrawn from the vein.
Dr. Min said other laser energy has been used to treat spider veins on the face and legs, but this is the first report of its use inside the vein to treat varicosity.
The treatment costs about $2,000 in the United States, he said, and some insurers have covered the procedure.
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