A COMPARATIVE, HOSPITAL BASED PROSPECTIVE STUDY OF FLUSH LIGATION OF SAPHENOFEMORAL JUNCTION WITH AND WITHOUT STRIPPING OF LONG SAPHENOUS VEIN AS A MODALITY OF TREATMENT FOR LONG SAPHENOUS VARICOSE VEINS.

Purpose: Varicose veins are dilated, tortuous, thin elongated vessels usually associated with valvular incompetence. With a shift to less invasive, endovenous treatment modalities in recent years, much attention and interest has been drawn to venous disease. In this study, our focus was to compare between the two surgical techniques as standard procedure when less invasive and more recent technique modalities as treatment are not yet available. Methods: The study comprised of 100 cases of long saphenous varicosities. Each patient was subjected to Doppler ultrasound to look for saphenofemoral incompetence and patency of deep veins. The patients were allocated into two groups of 50 patients each who either went flush ligation of saphenofemoral junction with stripping of long saphenous varicose vein or Trendelenburg?s surgery (flush ligation of saphenofemoral junction), and were called by S and T group respectively. Results: We observed that saphenofemoral ligation with or without stripping is equally effective in long saphenonous varicosities. However, saphenofemoral ligation with stripping which aims to remove the varicose vein produces lasting results and overall better outcome. Conclusion: The study concludes that long saphenous varicosities are best treated by stripping in spite of the fact that the period of disability following surgery is significantly longer that after Saphenofemoral Junction Ligation only.