Journal of Vascular Surgery
Volume 47, Issue 1 , Pages 151-156.e1, January 2008

Treatment of the incompetent great saphenous vein by endovenous radiofrequency powered segmental thermal ablation: First clinical experience

Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Venous Forum Annual, San Diego, California, Feb 14-17, 2007.

  • Thomas Michael Proebstle, MD, MSc

      Affiliations

    • Department of Dermatology, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorrespondence: Prof. Dr. Thomas M. Proebstle, Dept of Dermatology, University of PECS, Hungary.
    • ,
  • Bernadette Vago, MD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Dermatology, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
    • ,
  • Jens Alm, MD

      Affiliations

    • Dermatologikum, Hamburg, Germany
    • ,
  • Oliver Göckeritz, MD

      Affiliations

    • Venenzentrum am Elsterpark, Leipzig, Germany
    • ,
  • Christian Lebard, MD

      Affiliations

    • Hospital St. Michel, Paris, France.
    • ,
  • Olivier Pichot, MD

      Affiliations

    • CHU Service de Chirurgie Vasculaire, Grenoble, France.
    • ,
  • Closure Fast Clinical Study Group

      Affiliations

    • See the for additional authors.

Received 30 March 2007; accepted 31 August 2007.

Background

Radiofrequency ablation of saphenous veins has proven efficacy with an excellent side effect profile but has the disadvantage of a lengthy pullback procedure. This article reports a new endovenous catheter for radiofrequency-powered segmental thermal ablation (RSTA) of incompetent great saphenous veins (GSVs).

Methods

A prospective, nonrandomized, multicenter study was conducted to evaluate the safety, feasibility, and early clinical outcomes of RSTA of the GSV.

Results

A total of 194 patients with 252 GSVs with an average diameter of 5.7 ± 2.2 mm (range, 2.0 to 18.0 mm) received RSTA under tumescent local anesthesia. In 58 patients (29.9%), bilateral treatment (average length treated, 36.7 ± 10.8 cm) was done. The average total endovenous procedure time was 16.4 ± 8.2 minutes, and the average total energy delivery time was 2.2 ± 0.6 minutes. The corresponding endovenous fluence equivalent delivered to the proximal 7-cm vein segment was 82 ± 25 J/cm2 (range, 38 to 192). Follow-up at 3 days, 3 months, and 6 months was obtained from 250, 164, and 62 limbs, respectively. Occlusion rates were 99.6% for all three follow-up dates according to life-table analysis. The average Venous Clinical Severity Score was 3.4 ± 1.2 at 3 days, 0.9 ± 1.6 at 3 months, and 1.5 ± 1.8 at 6 months compared with 3.9 ± 2.0 at baseline.

Conclusion

Radiofrequency segmental thermal ablation is feasible, safe, and well tolerated.

 

 Competition of interest: none.

PII: S0741-5214(07)01451-6

doi:10.1016/j.jvs.2007.08.056

Journal of Vascular Surgery
Volume 47, Issue 1 , Pages 151-156.e1, January 2008

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