Abstract
Objective:
To determine the management of patients attending a single-visit venous clinic.
Design:
Observational study.
Setting:
District general hospital.
Patients:
Two hundred and sixty-nine patients who attended over 1 year.
Intervention:
Clinical assessment was carried out with continuous wave Doppler ultrasound examination in all cases and duplex ultrasound examination in selected patients, followed by standard appropriate management.
Main outcome measures:
Patients were classified according to their clinical status under the CEAP classification (clinical, aetiological, anatomical, pathophysiological). This was related to the chosen form of management (advice only, compression hosiery, compression bandaging, injection sclerotherapy, superficial venous surgery).
Results:
A much higher proportion of patients with mild or moderate disease (CEAP 2 or 3) undergo operation (109/146, 75%) than those with severe disease (CEAP 4–6), in whom operation is less often appropriate (37/106, 35%).
Conclusions:
Most of the operative workload is generated by patients with mild or moderate disease; patients with severe disease are more often treated conservatively.
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