Acceptance of different therapeutic modalities in phlebology - Results of a multicentric patient survey

Aim and methods: Compliance of patients plays an important role in the trea tment of chronic venous insufficiency (CVI), especially for compression the rapy. The objective of our multicentric patient survey was to assess the pa tients' evaluation of different treatment modalities. Results: The answers of 235 patients were examined. The patients' expectation concerning subject ive symptoms like pain, swelling and feeling of heaviness increases with pr ogressive CVI, whereas the cosmetic result becomes less important. Our resu lts show the highest subjective improvement of symptoms in patients treated with compression therapy and/or vein surgery. When asked if they would rep eal the treatment, 95% of patients answered positively for compression ther apy, 88,9% for drug therapy, 84,1% for vein surgery and 67,9% for sclerothe rapy. Conclusion: Our results show that most patients accept their treatmen t well. Especially compression therapy is well tolerated by patients with s evere CVI.