Development of the endolaser technique in the treatment of lower-limb varicose veins.: Considerations after five years of experience

Methods: The authors report a personal preliminary study on 162 saphenous veins of a continous series of 146 cases (134 GSV, 28 LSV) treated with Endolaser Multidiode 980 nm INTERmedic (E.M.T. 980), with a 18-48 month clinical and duplex scan follow-up. The authors describe the details of their personal technique. Results: No relevant complications were observed and up to now this technique has shown occlusions in 95,1% of the cases (complete: 81,5%, partial: 13,6%). Conclusions: In our opinion the Endoluminal Laser Technique could be a new and effective solution for varicose vein treatment, well-accepted and suitable even for patients at high risk. In any case we will have to wait for a longer follow-up to confirm the efficacy of this procedure, especially as far as the rate of recurrence is concerned.