Historical Aspects
Sclerotherapy has been used in the treatment of spider veins & occasionally varicose veins for over 150 years. Like varicose vein surgery, sclerotherapy techniques have evolved during that time. Modern techniques including ultrasonographic guidance and foam sclerotherapy are the latest developments in this evolution.
The first reported attempt at sclerotherapy was by D Zollikofer in Switzerland, 1682 who injected an acid into a vein to induce thrombus formation. Both Debout and Cassaignaic reported success in treating varicose veins by injecting perchlorate of iron in 1853. Desgranges in 1854 cured 16 cases of varicose veins by injecting iodine and tannin into the veins. This was approximately 12 years after the probable advent of great saphenous vein stripping in 1844 by Madelung. However, due to high rates of side-effects with the drugs used at the time, sclerotherapy had been practically abandoned by 1894. With the improvements in surgical techniques and anaesthetics over that time, stripping became the treatment of choice.
Work continued on alternative sclerosants in the early 20th century. During that time carbolic acid and perchlorate of mercury were tried and whilst these showed some effect in obliterating varicose veins, side-effects also caused them to be abandoned. Prof. Sicard and other French doctors developed the use of sodium carbonate and then sodium salicylate during and after the First World War. Quinine was also used with some effect during the early 20th century. At the time of Coppleson's book in 1929, he was advocating the use of sodium salicylate or quinine as the best choices of sclerosant.
Further work on improving the technique and development of safer more effective sclerosants continued through the 1940s and 1950s. Of particular importance was the development of sodium tetradecyl sulfate (STS) in 1946, a product still widely used to this day. George Fegan in the 1960s reported treating over 13,000 patients with sclerotherapy, significantly advancing the technique by focussing on fibrosis of the vein rather than thrombosis, concentrating on controlling significant points of reflux, and emphasizing the importance of compression of the treated leg. The procedure became medically accepted in mainland Europe during that time. However it was poorly understood or accepted in England or the United States, a situation that continues to this day amongst some sections of the medical community.
The next major development in the evolution of sclerotherapy was the advent of duplex ultrasonography in the 1980s and its incorporation into the practise of sclerotherapy later that decade. Knight was an early advocate of this new procedure and presented it at several conferences in Europe and the United States. Thibault's article was the first on this topic to be published in a peer-reviewed journal.
The work of Cabrera and Monfreaux in utilising foam sclerotherapy along with Tessari's "3-way tap method" of foam production further revolutionised the treatment of larger varicose veins with sclerotherapy.
Read more about this topic: Sclerotherapy
Famous quotes containing the words historical and/or aspects:
“Some of us still get all weepy when we think about the Gaia Hypothesis, the idea that earth is a big furry goddess-creature who resembles everybody’s mom in that she knows what’s best for us. But if you look at the historical record—Krakatoa, Mt. Vesuvius, Hurricane Charley, poison ivy, and so forth down the ages—you have to ask yourself: Whose side is she on, anyway?”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)
“I suppose an entire cabinet of shells would be an expression of the whole human mind; a Flora of the whole globe would be so likewise, or a history of beasts; or a painting of all the aspects of the clouds. Everything is significant.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)