Document Type : Original Article(s)

Authors

1 Associate Professor, Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Corlu Province Hospital, Tekirdag, Turkey

2 Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Umraniye Education and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey

3 Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Kirikkale Yuksek Ihtisas Hospital, Kirikkale, Turkey

4 Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Derince Education and Research Hospital, Kocaeli, Turkey

5 Department of Radiology, School of Medicine, Kocaeli University, Kocaeli, Turkey

Abstract

 BACKGROUND: Cyanoacrylate (CA) has been used as an embolizing agent in the treatment of
greater saphenous vein (GSV) insufficiency in recent years and the results regarding the use of
this method have started to be published. To the best of our knowledge, the publications in
literature do not mention about a significant negative effect of endovenous CA (EVCA)
embolization. We aimed to evaluate the effects and undesirable events of this relatively new
treatment method and compare them with literature, using the follow-up data of our patients.
METHODS: Patients who had GSV insufficiency for at least 3 months and were treated with
EVCA embolization because of this disease were included in the study. Patients were excluded if
they had deep vein thrombosis (DVT), excessive tortuous GSV, and peripheral neuropathy.
Hospital archive records were reviewed and undesirable events like DVT, thrombophlebitis, and
pain related to this treatment procedure were recorded.
RESULTS: EVCA embolization procedure was performed in a total of 54 patients with an average
age of 49.36 ± 13.06 years for the purpose of treating GSV insufficiency. One patient was
observed to develop n-butyl CA (NBCA) extension of approximately 5 mm from saphenofemoral
junction (SFJ) to the main femoral vein and painful thrombophlebitic reaction was observed in
6 extremities at the first control examination.
CONCLUSION: In our opinion, while EVCA embolization is a treatment option with similar
success rates to endovenous thermal ablation (EVTA), it should be kept in mind that there may
be a possibility of developing thrombophlebitis and NBCA extension or thrombus extension to
the deep veins.

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