Varicose veins: hooks, clamps, and suction. Application of new techniques to enhance varicose vein surgery.

Surgical principles that guided varicose vein surgery for nearly 75 years have been time honored and taught to generations of surgeons. Each of these principles has been challenged successfully, and, as a result, varicose vein surgery has changed markedly. The fundamental principle of totally removing varicose clusters from the circulation remains firmly established. However, methods of accomplishing this have changed and continue to change. Hook phlebectomy and clamp phlebectomy have replaced open dissection and tributary ligation. The place of tumescent anesthesia, transilluminated-powered phlebectomy, and sclerotherapy remain unsettled. However, there now are a number of alternatives in planning patient care. Copyright 2002 by W.B. Saunders Company