[Sclerosis of the external saphenous vein and compartment syndrome]

Despite the precautions taken during sclerosis of the arch of the external saphenous, the authors describe four patients who presented a clinical picture of acute pain, developing about two hours after the injection, accompanied by induration of the internal gemellus and contracture of this muscle, leading to functional disability; recovery from this was not really complete until the end of six months. They explain this picture not by the injection of an artery frequently present at the level of the popliteal junction, but injection of a gemellar ven, giving rise to a compartment syndrome; this hypothesis has not received any confirmation by arteriography or phlebography.