Heparin prophylaxis in major sclerotherapy (the Prosclep study)

Objective To study the incidence and the possibility of preventing thrombotic complications during major sclerotherapy for venous insufficiency of lower limbs. Methods A total of 2489 sclerotherapy sessions were performed on 2010 patients. 1087 sessions (43.7%) were carried out without heparin prophylaxis while in 1402 sessions (56.3%) a prophylaxis with low molecular weight (LMWH) was used. Thrombotic complications were divided into a) post sclerotherapy transient extension (POSTE) if they consisted of a simple extension of sclerotherapy, and b) deep venous thrombosis (DVT) when the complication occurred in a location separate from that of sclerosis. Results The overall incidence of a thrombotic complication was 0.52%. Out of 2489 sessions, 8 cases of POSTE (0.32%) and 5 thromboses of a gastrocnemius vein (0.2%) were diagnosed The most significant figures were reached in the great saphenous vein (GSV) subgroup, where the incidence of complications was 1.91% without prophylaxis and 0.31% (p = 0.009) with prophylactic heparin. Conclusions In this study prophylaxis with LMWH significantly reduced the incidence of thrombotic complications when sclerotherapy of the great saphenous vein was performed.