Safety and efficacy of venous ablation in octogenarians

Venous ablation (VA) is the recommended treatment of superficial venous insufficiency affecting the lower extremities. The safety and efficacy of the procedure in octogenarians have not been well studied. We postulate that VA in octogenarians is as safe and effective as in younger age groups.

A retrospective single-center review of consecutive patients undergoing VA using radiofrequency in an outpatient office was performed. Patients, imaging, and procedural characteristics were reviewed from the medical records. A telephone survey inquiring about intensity of symptoms on a numeric rating scale of 0 to 10 before and after treatment was conducted. Patients were divided into three groups based on age: <65 years, 65 to 79 years, and ≥80 years. Clinical success was defined by patients' reporting improvement or resolution of symptoms and was reported per leg. Technical success was defined by vein closure on duplex ultrasound and was reported per vein. Patients and outcomes were compared between the three groups using χ² or analysis of variance test in SAS software (SAS Institute, Cary, NC).

There were 362 patients who underwent 627 VAs in 512 legs. Octogenarians constituted 9.4% of the patient population and were more likely to have cardiovascular comorbidities. Octogenarians were significantly more likely to have advanced venous disease as determined by the Clinical, Etiology, Anatomy, and Pathophysiology classification compared with younger patients (P = .005). On ultrasound, younger patients had significantly larger vein diameters (P = .04) and longer reflux times (P < .001). There was no significant difference in the types of veins (P = .08) or the mean number of veins (P = .37) treated in the three groups; however, there was a trend toward younger patients' requiring more adjunctive procedures (P = .1). The clinical success (P = .86), technical success (P = .19), and complications (P = .36) were not different between octogenarians and younger patients. The survey results demonstrated similar findings with no difference in pain improvement (P = .27) or recurrence (P = .36).

Octogenarians treated with VA present at a more advanced clinical stage compared with younger patients but have less severe ultrasound findings. VA is safe and effective in all age groups. Age should not be used to deny patients VA.