Sclerotherapy: a study comparing polidocanol in foam and liquid form

Compression sclerotherapy has been satisfactorily used for half a century for the treatment of varicose veins of the lower extremities. The effect of sclerosing solutions is that of making endofibrosis and vascular damage via producing endothelial injury. Different sclerosing agents were used by applying many different sclerotherapy methods. In recent years, sclerosing foam has been introduced in sclerotherapy with the goal of increasing the efficacy in the treatment of varicose veins. It is still uncertain whether foam or liquid form is superior. The aim of this study is to determine the efficacy and safety of the sclerosant polidocanol - which is a well-known detergent-type sclerosing agent - in foam form compared with liquid form.

A total of 100 women patients with telengiectases and small varicose veins of less than 4 mm were included in this study. The patients were divided into two groups according to presenting dates. Fifty patients who presented first were classified as the first group. They were treated with Tessari's foam sclerotherapy method. The second fifty patients who presented later were placed in the second group. They were treated with the liquid form of polidocanol. Extremity veins that did not have insufficiency at the saphenofemoral junction were divided into three groups as <1 mm, 1-2 mm and >2 but <4 mm, and the veins were treated with 0.25%, 0.5% or 1% of polidocanol, respectively. Clinical improvement, patients' complaints and side-effects were determined after treatment.

Complete disappearance was determined in 84% of patients in the foam form group and in 72% in the liquid form group. Although polidocanol in foam form's success rate was higher than the liquid form of polidocanol to clear the vessels, this result did not reach statistical significance (P = 0.148). There was no significant difference also in the side effects between each group.

Compression sclerotherapy is an effective and useful method for treating small varicose veins and telengiectases. Both polidocanol foam and polidocanol liquid forms are effective and safe sclerosing agents. The rates of side-effects were similar for both sclerotherapy methods. Although efficacy to clear the small varicose veins and telengiectases with foam polidocanol seems to be more successful than with liquid polidocanol, it is early to declare the superiority of the foam sclerotherapy method.