Introduction:

Venous insufficiency impacts the quality of life of patients and the health system of less developed countries, where endovascular techniques are limitedly used, due to their high cost, which favors the wide usage of conventional surgical methods.

Objective:

To identify the usefulness of saphenous varicectomy as an alternative treatment in Colombia for varicose vein disease.

Methods:

An observational, descriptive and retrospective cross-sectional study was carried out with 477 patients undergoing superior stripping and/or phlebextraction in a specialized center for the management of venous pathologies in Medellín City, Colombia, between 2016 and 2018. The variables studied were divided into perioperative and postoperative ones, and their values ​​were summarized in absolute and relative frequencies.

Results:

70.4% of the patients were female, 48% were over 51 years old, the majority were overweight (49.5%), and 15.1% were obese. The most performed procedure was extraction of the greater saphenous vein plus varicectomy (72.3%), mainly on the left side (43.8%). Most of the patients reported moderate pain and 92.7% had adherence to compression stocking. Overall and aesthetic improvement was satisfactory in 86.6%. 64.7% resumed their daily activities between the first and third days, and 72.5% had a work disability of 8-12 days.

Conclusions:

Conventional surgery showed excellent clinical outcomes with a low rate of complications, a reason why it can be a management alternative in countries with limited resources.

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