Post-sclerotherapy compression: Controlled comparative study of duration of compression and its effects on clinical outcome

BACKGROUND. Although much has been published on the effects of compression on the venous system, relatively few studies address the duration of compre ssion following sclerotherapy of telangiectatic webs associated with reticu lar veins. OBJECTIVE. TO perform a controlled study comparing the effects of different durations of compression following sclerotherapy of reticular veins and te langiectasias in similar locations. METHOD. This study consisted of a total of 40 patients, 30 patients who rec eived compression therapy and 10 control patients who did not receive compr ession therapy. The compression group consisted of 10 in each of three dura tion groups: 3 days, 1 week, and 3 weeks. Patients were evaluated at 1 week , 2 weeks, 6 weeks, 12 weeks, and 24 weeks for degree of improvement and si de effects, RESULTS. The three compression groups showed significantly greater improvem ent at 6 weeks (p = .004). There was a strong correlation between the lengt h of time compression was applied and degree of improvement at 4 weeks, 12 weeks, and 24 weeks of clinical follow-up; r = .74, p = .0006, r = .59, p = .006, r = .66, p = .0001, respectively. The patients treated with compress ion for 3 days and 1 week had more improvement than the control patients wh ile the patients treated for 3 weeks of continuous compression had the most improvement. In terms of side effects, the 1 week and 3 week compression g roups experienced the least amount of post-sclerotherapy hyperpigmentation. CONCLUSIONS. Compression enhances the results following sclerotherapy in a statistically significant way and is directly correlated with duration of c ompression. Three weeks of continuous compression leads to the best results , although even 3 days of compression results in greater improvement than n o compression. Compression leads to a statistically significant reduction o f post-sclerotherapy hyperpigmentation.