Endovascular Occlusive or Sclerosing Agent Monotherapy for Varicose Veins: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Abstract

This systematic review and network meta-analysis investigated the clinical efficacy and safety of chemical agent injections in patients with varicose veins. PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane databases were searched for eligible studies where patients administered endovascular agents comprised an intervention group, and patients administered other interventions comprised the comparison group. The endovascular agents included foam and liquid form sclerotherapy or cyanoacrylate glue. The other interventions in this study included surgery, endovenous laser ablation (EVLA), radiofrequency ablation (RFA), and placebo. A network meta-analysis for treatment effectiveness was performed. In addition, we illustrated the P-score lines of success rate and complication rate sorted by the P-score. Our results showed that at all postprocedural time intervals, cyanoacrylate glue therapy exhibited a significantly higher success rate compared with foam and liquid sclerotherapy. According to the plot of P-score lines, cyanoacrylate glue had an overall tendency of higher success rate and lower complication rate compared with foam and liquid sclerotherapy. Comparing with the other invasive treatments, cyanoacrylate glue may be non-inferior and could be considered as an option for treating varicose veins. However, the clinical benefits and safety of endovascular agents for the treatment of varicose veins require further corroboration through randomized control trials.