The natural history of ultrasound-detected recurrence in the groin following saphenofemoral treatment for varicose veins

A One-Year Audit of Varicose Vein Surgery at a Vascular Surgical Unit with a Long-Term Duplex and Quality of Life Follow-Up

“…Similar findings were recently reported from Japan based on a 5-year follow-up of patients having undergone modern minimally invasive GSV stripping [7]. Specifically, the clinical risk for early groin recurrence and especially neovascularization seems to have been overestimated or could have been the result of inadequate open surgical technique used in some RCTs [8,9]. These findings have also been confirmed by long term follow-up from several RCTs, included in systematic reviews and meta-analyses, that show more groin recurrence long term from endovenous techniques than from open surgery [10][11][12].…”

Editor's Choice – European Society for Vascular Surgery (ESVS) 2022 Clinical Practice Guidelines on the Management of Chronic Venous Disease of the Lower Limbs

“…16 Such DUS detected reflux is not always accompanied by clinically manifest symptoms and signs; therefore it should be distinguished from recurrent VVs. 336 During the first year after the procedure, which is the short term follow up time, recurrent reflux is often subclinical and may only become clinically relevant after three to five years. 337 This explains why long term follow up is needed to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of any intervention for superficial venous incompetence.…”

“…In addition to the aforementioned causes, underlying risk factors for persistent or recurrent disease are advanced age, female gender, prolonged standing, increased BMI, and previous recurrent disease. 336 Pelvic vein reflux has been identified as an important contributing factor to varicose vein recurrence (see Chapter 7). It is particularly common in multiparous women, although it may occur occasionally in men as well.…”

A multicenter randomized controlled trial of cyanoacrylate closure and surgical stripping for incompetent great saphenous veins

“…However, several studies have reported a high rate of recurrence after the SS procedure. Versteeg et al 13 reported that ultrasound groin recurrence was detected in 82% of cases and visible varicose veins occurred in 83% of patients 5 years after the SS procedure. At 8 years of follow-up after high ligation and stripping, the rate of symptomatic GSV reflux and saphenofemoral junction failure was 72.1% and 41.7%, respectively.…”