[Thrombectomy or thrombolysis in the treatment of proximal phlebitis. Functional long term results]

MATERIALS AND METHODS Between 1981 and 1985, 78 iliocaval thrombi were treated by aggressive therapy: 52 surgical thrombectomies were performed by a femoral approach associated, depending on the case, with a caval approach; and 26 iliofemoral thrombi were lysed according to a protocol in which urokinase and plasminogen were used over a 48-h period. Subsequent functional evaluation was based on clinical scoring (0 to 9 points) taking into account functional impairment, edema and trophic disorders. Patency of trunks and the deep valvular state were assessed by Doppler examination and plethysmography. RESULTS In the surgical group, 3 early deaths occurred, only one of which could be attributed to an embolic course. Six weeks after surgery the rate of recurrence of iliac thrombosis was 50% (25% postoperative + 25% secondary). Beyond this period, there were no recurrences of thrombosis. There was a direct, statistically significant relation between the degree of iliac patency and the realization of an ideal thrombectomy on a nonadherent fresh clot. The functional results, assessed after four and a half years of follow-up, are satisfactory (score less than 3) in 80% of patients. The poor results with venous claudication or varicose ulcer all occurred in the case of massive persistent thrombi of the femoral confluence. Valve lesions were signaled in 46% of patients by a massive backflow in orthostatism. In the medical group, a major hemorrhagic complication occurred under urokinase therapy in 11% of patients, including one for whom it was fatal. Sixty percent of patients showed immediate radiological improvement allowing partial or total freeing of a venous confluence. The functional results after 4 years of follow-up were nondisabling in 85% of patients. No leg ulcers were detected. Late iliac patency was low (26%), whereas at the femoral level almost all of the thrombi which remained after lysis became patent again spontaneously. Valve failure was found in 37% of patients. Both groups had very similar late functional results despite rather different anatomical conditions. The iliac patency rate was higher in the surgical group (50% vs 26%), but plethysmographic study showed that in case of therapeutic failure devalvulation was greater after surgery (46% vs 37%).