Clinical Efficiency and Safety of Radiofrequency Ablation for Treating Incompetent Great Saphenous Veins in Aged Patients

Abstract

Introduction Few studies have focused on the safety and efficacy of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) in treating incompetent great saphenous vein (GSV) in aged population. This study was designed to investigate the clinical efficacy of RFA in treating incompetent GSV in the aged patients. Methods In this retrospective study, we included 138 consecutive patients (involving 194 limbs) with a mean age of 63.0 years who underwent RFA and microphlebectomy or sclerotherapy due to symptomatic incompetent GSV with saphenofemoral junction reflux. Based on their ages, patients were classified into young group and aged group. Then we compared the preoperative and postoperative Clinical, Etiology, Anatomic, Pathophysiology (CEAP) classification, venous clinical severity score (VCSS) and chronic venous insufficiency questionnaire 14 (CIVIQ-14) score between the 2 groups. Results In both the young and aged groups, patients underwent RFA showed significant decrease in the CEAP and VCSS at month 1, 3 and 6 compared with immediately after RFA (month 0) (all P < .001). In addition, in both groups, significant increase was seen in the CIVIQ-14 score at month 1, 3 and 6 compared with month 0 (all P < .001). Compared with the young group, the post-RFA CEAP, VCSS and CIVIQ-14 scores showed no statistical differences in the aged group at the designated time points, respectively (all P > .05). Conclusions RFA of GSV was effective for treating GSV in the aged population, which improved the CEAP, VCSS and CIVIQ-14.