Varicose Vein Treatments: Is Laser Therapy as Good as Surgery?

Patients with varicose veins wonder which treatment is the best: laser therapy vs. surgery for vein stripping. Well, a new study shows that for varicose veins, the result of saphenous vein insufficiency, laser ablation therapy is as effective and safe as high ligation with vein stripping.

In what researchers described as the largest and most powerful clinical trial to date, comparing an endovenous laser treatment with conventional surgery, the two approaches were equivalent in terms of recurrence even up to 2 years.

Vein stripping (stripping of the great saphenous vein) is the standard surgical approach to the treatment of varicose veins and is done by a vascular surgeon. This current trial looked at 400 patients and compared laser ablation with vein stripping. The recurrence free rates were 97% in both groups which is great, actually. Quality of life scores, pain after the procedure, complication rates, and psychological well-being were the same in both groups.

Minor adverse effects were frequent; however pain persisted longer after vein stripping.

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