FRIDAY, June 12 (HealthDay News) -- In patients with chronic venous insufficiency in limbs affected by peripheral arterial disease, percutaneous stenting may significantly reduce symptoms, according to research presented this week at the Society for Vascular Surgery's 2009 Vascular Annual Meeting, held from June 11 to 14 in Denver.
Seshadri Raju, M.D., of the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, and colleagues reviewed iliac vein stent procedures performed on 1,487 limbs, including 513 with deep reflux.
After six years, the researchers found that 83 percent of the patients were pain free, 46 percent had no swelling, and that an additional 25 percent had significantly reduced swelling. After five years, they also found that 63 percent of leg ulcers stayed healed, and that patients' quality of life scores had significantly improved.
"Chronic venous insufficiency responds to partial correction of combined pathology with stent and the residual reflux is well tolerated," the authors conclude. "These findings provide the basis for a new paradigm in the treatment of chronic venous insufficiency."
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