[Complications of sclerotherapy]

The authors recently treated three patients showing rather marked complications following sclerosing injections for varicose veins. In the first case, the intra-arterial injection brought about a tissular necrosis in the form of a distal-based triangle. The preservative treatment, undertaken 4 weeks after the injection, did not make it possible to save three toes, that had to be amputated. The second patient was sent to use after an injection in the posterior tibial artery. Acute ischemia was treated on an emergency basis with a lumbar sympathectomy. I believe that the approach we took allowed us to cure the trophic problems and to loose only one small phalanx. The third case reported on concerns a patient brought to us in a state of shock after a massive pulmonary embolism. She had been given a sclerosing injection in a large varicose vein of the leg 48 hours previously. The leg had rapidly increased in volume and was apparently the site of a deep veinous thrombosis.