Foam sclerotherapy compared with liquid sclerotherapy for the treatment of lower extremity varicose veins A protocol for systematic review and meta analysis

Background: There is a continued discussion on which is the best sclerosant to treat lower extremity varicose veins. Therefore, we did this meta-analysis to determine that foam sclerotherapy versus liquid sclerotherapy, which could perform better in the treatment of lower extremity varicose veins. Materials and methods: We independently searched 5 databases from inception to February 1, 2019, for randomized controlled trials and prospective controlled trials for comparing foam sclerotherapy and liquid sclerotherapy for the treatment of lower extremity varicose veins. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) was used to assess the quality of studies. The primary outcome and secondary outcomes were analyzed using stata 15.0. This meta-analysis was performed according to Cochrane Handbook. Results: There were significant differences in effective rate (P < .001, odd ratios = 5.64, 95% confidence interval = 3.93-8.10) and incidence rate of pain (P = .030, odd ratios = 1.52, 95% confidence interval = 1.04-2.21) between foam sclerotherapy and liquid sclerotherapy. And there were no significant differences among local inflammation (P = .896, rate difference = 0.00, 95% confidence interval = -0.03 to 0.03), thrombophlebitis (P = .90, rate difference = 0.00, 95% confidence interval = -0.02 to 0.02) and hyperpigmentation (P = .336, rate difference = 0.05, 95% confidence interval = -0.05 to 0.14). Conclusions: Although foam sclerotherapy has a higher incidence rate of complications, it could achieve a more stable clinical efficacy in the treatment of lower extremity varicose veins than liquid sclerotherapy.