Abstract
The lower limb venous system is responsible for the return of the blood from the leg toward the heart. Chronic venous disease occurs by a deficiency in the blood return due to structural or functional abnormalities of the veins of the lower limbs. Insufficient venous return leads to the accumulation of blood in the lower limbs and to varying degrees of venous hypertension, presenting a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations, ranging from simple telangiectasies and varicose veins to advanced forms. Chronic venous disease has a large prevalence in the world population and has significant impact on health services for high demand due to disease symptoms, activity limitation and aesthetic concern. Common symptoms are pain, cramps, heaviness, edema, and lower limb ulcer. The presence of tortuous and dilated veins must be noted, as well as telangiectasies, angiomatous formation, edema, and trophic skin alterations. CEAP classification has been proposed in order to standardize the scientific publications about varicose veins and therapeutic indications. Chronic venous disease treatment involves no interventionist actions to control symptoms and improve the quality of life with physical activity, compression therapy, phlebotropic agents, and interventional treatment such as sclerotherapy, transdermal laser, or surgery. Today, we have the minimally invasive methods as an alternative of surgery: endovenous ablation with laser or radiofrequency and foam sclerotherapy.
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Pires, M.F.B., Nogueira, R.F., Navarro, T.P. (2017). Chronic Venous Disease and Varicose Veins. In: Navarro, T., Dardik, A., Junqueira, D., Cisneros, L. (eds) Vascular Diseases for the Non-Specialist. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46059-8_14
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