THE ROLE OF EXTERNAL BANDING VALVULOPLASTY WITH THE VENOCUFF IN THE TREATMENT OF PRIMARY DEEP VENOUS INSUFFICIENCY

Objective: Evaluation of the role of external banding valvuloplasty in the treatment of primary deep venous insufficiency. Design: Retrospec tive analysis of patients subjected to external banding valvuloplasty (EBV) with the Venocuff in relation to the evolution of venous reflux. Setting: Department of Vascular Surgery, Instituto Dermopatico dell'I mmacolata, Rome, Italy. Patients: Ten patients with signs and symptoms of chronic venous insufficiency. Interventions: Application of a Veno cuff to the superficial femoral vein. Main outcome measure: The correc tion rate of the primary deep venous reflux assessed by venography and colour duplex ultrasound. Results: In a mean follow-up period of 10 m onths, deep vein reflux was completely abolished in nine patients (90% ). Conclusions: The Venocuff is an improvement over the previous techn iques, of surgical treatment of primary deep venous insufficiency in r educing the dilated valve bulb to the correct size in a quick, standar dized and precise way.