Varicose veins: A critical review of the definition and the therapeutical options

This review intends to give an overview of the present therapeutic options for varicose vein disease. The definition of varicose vein disease and its recurrence are made and discussed with new aspects including duplexsonography assessment. All therapeutic approaches have developed and refined their treatment modalities, the open surgical as well as the endovenous techniques. In particular the "new" endovenous techniques are described with regard to safety and outcome, the published literature in this respect is summarized. The studies comparing the different techniques are listed, the prospective long term studies comparing the new techniques with the so called gold standard (open surgery) shall decide on the fate of the different techniques.