[Concomitant versus staged tributary management during endovenous truncal ablation for varicose veins: an...

Strategic management of tributary veins including concomitant versus staged intervention during endovenous thermal ablation for truncal varicose veins remains debated. Concomitant procedures mainly involves thermal ablation with ultrasound-guided foam sclerotherapy or phlebectomy. Staged strategies include initial truncal ablation followed by deliberated tributary management. Major venous disease guidelines exhibit substantial divergence,Japanese Society of Phlebology guidelines in 2019 contraindicate concomitant procedures, European Society for Vascular Surgery 2022 Clinical Practice Guidelines and Chinese frameworks endorse individualized decision-making,while American Vein and Lymphatic Society guidelines in 2023 prioritize concomitant procedures. Systematic literature review reveals that concomitant procedures do not uniformly translate into reduced reintervention rates or improved early Venous Clinical Severity Scores, yet consistently incur elevated complication risks and postoperative pain. Conversely, staged strategies offer superior tolerability with minimized complications. Hemodynamic principles indicate that most competent tributaries undergo partial or complete regression within 6 weeks to 6 months post-ablation and hemodynamic studies demonstrate that staged approaches preserve the drainage function of tributaries, preventing edema in their respective drainage territories and reducing tributary intervention rates. Future multicenter randomized controlled trials are imperative to delineate comparative outcomes between concomitant and staged management of truncal and tributary veins.