Small Caliber Vessel Sclerotherapy

Abstract

Sclerotherapy is the procedure of introducing a foreign bodyCartee, T.V.into a vein with the intent of ablating the vessel through a controlled thrombophlebitic event with resulting scar formationSclerotherapyscar formation. Circa 460 BC, Hippocrates described a rudimentary precursor of modern sclerotherapy by inducing thrombosis through serially puncturing a vein with a slender iron rod. In the 1600s, Sigismund Eisholtz used distilled plantain water in the earliest recorded use of an injected substance to induce sclerosis. Refinement of the sclerosant material, injection technique, and the addition of foamed formulations over the past century have elevated sclerotherapy to the gold standard in the treatment of reticular and telangiectatic leg veinsLeg veinsand an important therapeutic modality for varicose veinsSclerotherapyvaricose veinsand saphenous refluxSclerotherapysaphenous reflux.