Sclerotherapy

Sclerotherapy (the word reflects the Greek skleros, meaning 'hard')is a procedure used to treat blood vessels or blood vessel malformations (vascular malformations) and also those of the lymphatic system. A medicine is injected into the vessels, which makes them shrink. It is used for children and young adults with vascular or lymphatic malformations. In adults, sclerotherapy is often used to treat spider veins, smaller varicose veins, hemorrhoids and hydroceles. Sclerotherapy (the word reflects the Greek skleros, meaning 'hard')is a procedure used to treat blood vessels or blood vessel malformations (vascular malformations) and also those of the lymphatic system. A medicine is injected into the vessels, which makes them shrink. It is used for children and young adults with vascular or lymphatic malformations. In adults, sclerotherapy is often used to treat spider veins, smaller varicose veins, hemorrhoids and hydroceles. Sclerotherapy is one method (along with surgery, radiofrequency and laser ablation) for the treatment of spider veins, occasionally varicose veins, and venous malformations. In ultrasound-guided sclerotherapy, ultrasound is used to visualize the underlying vein so the physician can deliver and monitor the injection. Sclerotherapy often takes place under ultrasound guidance after venous abnormalities have been diagnosed with duplex ultrasound. Sclerotherapy under ultrasound guidance and using microfoam sclerosants has been shown to be effective in controlling reflux from the sapheno-femoral and sapheno-popliteal junctions.However, some authors believe that sclerotherapy is not suitable for veins with reflux from the greater or lesser saphenous junction, or for veins with axial reflux.