Endovenous laser treatment of incompetent below-knee great saphenous veins.

Purpose: To test the hypotheses that below-knee great saphenous vein (GSV) reflux after successful ablation of the incompetent above-knee GSV is a cause of incomplete clinical success and that endovenous laser treatment (ELT) of the incompetent below-knee GSV can safely eliminate persistent symptoms.

Materials And Methods: The author evaluated 576 consecutive ELT procedures of the GSV. Fifty ELT procedures in incompetent calf GSVs were included in this study.

Prospective evaluation of higher energy great saphenous vein endovenous laser treatment.

Purpose: In this study, the hypothesis that higher energy dose improves procedural success without increasing complications was prospectively evaluated by performing endovenous laser therapy (ELT) at energies greater than 80 J/cm.

Materials And Methods: One hundred consecutive great saphenous (GSV), anterior accessory great saphenous (AAGSV), or posterior accessory great saphenous (PAGSV) veins were treated with the intent to deliver an energy dose of greater than 80 J/cm. Eighty-one patients (64 women, 17 men) were treated.

Greater energy delivery improves treatment success of endovenous laser treatment of incompetent saphenous veins.

Purpose: Early and midterm results of endovenous laser treatment (EVLT) of the saphenous veins for the treatment of symptomatic insufficiency are promising. However, technical factors contributing to success or failure of saphenous vein EVLT have not been fully investigated. This study was performed to test the hypothesis that treatment success is related to achieving a critical threshold of energy delivery relative to the length of vein treated.

Arteriovenous fistula after endovenous laser treatment of the short saphenous vein.

Reports of major complications from endovenous laser treatment of saphenous veins with use of perivenous tumescent anesthesia are very rare. The author reports a major complication of endovenous laser treatment, the creation of an arteriovenous (AV) fistula. The fistula was created between the short saphenous vein (SSV) and the superficial sural artery in the popliteal fossa during endovenous laser treatment of the SSV.