ORIGINAL ARTICLE  VENOUS DISEASE 

International Angiology 2021 February;40(1):1-8

DOI: 10.23736/S0392-9590.20.04549-6

Copyright © 2020 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Ultrasound-guided percutaneous endovenous laser treatment combined with sclerotherapy for the treatment of large intramuscular venous malformations

Marco FRESA ¹ ✉, Oumama EL EZZI ², Anthony DE BUYS ROESSINGH ², Salah D. QANADLI ³, Barbara NEY ¹, Lucia MAZZOLAI ¹

¹ Department of Angiology, Center for Malformation and Rare Vascular Diseases, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland; ² Department of Pediatric Surgery, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland; ³ Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland

BACKGROUND: Among vascular anomalies, congenital venous malformations (VMs) are the most common lesions. Treatment of VMs is sometimes difficult or cumbersome, depending on their size and tissue involvement. Surgery may lead to invasive and mutilating excisions, often allowing only partial removal, with an increased risk of recurrence. Sclerotherapy is a mainstream technique, resulting in endothelium destruction, fibrosis and subsequent shrinkage of the vascular lesion, also with a risk of recurrence. However, this technique may not be efficient in cases of large and infiltrating VMs. Endovenous thermal ablation has been found to be more effective than sclerotherapy for transmural vascular destruction and has therefore been employed in the treatment of VMs.
METHODS: In this study we described a combined technique for the treatment of large intramuscular VMs in seven consecutive patients, associating endovenous laser ablation with sclerotherapy. The aim was to assess feasibility and safety of the procedure.
RESULTS: We reported a high immediate technical success, clinical and radiological improvement, with no complications.
CONCLUSIONS: The preliminary results presented herein show, that combining EVLA and sclerotherapy for the treatment of voluminous persistent intramuscular VM is safe and technically feasible. The combination of a wide direct intimal thermal damage with chemical sclerotherapy is the force of this approach. The small number of cases and the medium term follow up represent though a limitation.

KEY WORDS: Veins; Lasers; Sclerotherapy