The management of recurrent varicose veins

Recurrent varicose veins are due to unidentified connections between the deep and superficial venous systems. Conventional clinical and radiological methods of identification are inefficient. In a series of 662 operations the rate of recurrence was over 40%. By changing to a different radiological technique, using an image intensifier, it was found that the gastrocnemius veins in the popliteal fossa were a common cause of recurrence. This radiological technique also differentiated between those recurrences that required a second operation and those which ought to be treated by Fegan's method.