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Questions and answers for patients Questions and answers for medical professionals From sclerotherapy to T.R.A.P. |
Results of Three-dimensional Regenerative Phlebotherapy (T.R.A.P.)"The efficacy of phlebological procedures As a plastic surgeon, I am well aware of the importance of photographic documentation before and after treatment, as a means of evaluating the efficacy of the technique adopted and the persistence of the result over time. Photographs are also useful for showing details that the eye does not perceive in the live setting. Varicose veins and telangiectasias in the lower limbs constitute an exquisitely visual disorder, in that every insufficient vein manifests itself in the superficial circulation. Why is it then that, during courses and congresses on sclerotherapy and phlebology, photographic results of the methods proposed are hardly ever shown? Moreover, before undergoing a surgical or phlebological procedure, patients will surely want to see what sort of result the therapist is able to achieve. In addition, how can the colleagues who learn phlebology and sclerotherapy in the numerous courses offered assess the efficacy of the method they are learning if they cannot see a single result? Perhaps through Doppler verification that a (blameless) great saphenous vein has been obliterated? Or perhaps they should place their trust in preconceptions that, in the case of sclerotherapy, are 100 years old, and in the case of surgery date back 2400 years to the days of Hippocrates? Obliteration and ablation are not efficacious treatments for a venous disorder (miopragia) that extends to the entire superficial and perforating circulation. The very poor results obtained prompt therapists to claim that “the disorder is progressive; the ectatic vessels that reappear after a few months are not really recurrences, but just the normal evolution of the disease”. Fewer patients are now prepared to accept explanations of this kind; quite rightly, they wish to solve their functional/aesthetic problem, and are no longer willing to believe without seeing. Today, a rational therapy does not destroy the veins; it cures them. And the results must be both visible and durable. The expression “aesthetic result” sometimes arouses scepticism on the part of therapists, a reaction that I have noted in my own department (headed by a vascular surgeon!) at San Martino Hospital in Genoa. Those who evince such a reaction are presumably unaware that the result of a phlebological treatment can only be maintained over time if we eliminate the anomalous pressure on the superficial circulation, and that, unless this anomalous pressure is relieved, telangiectasias will persist. Today, we are able to treat the venous circulation, and our treatment never fails. For this reason, we are not afraid to show photographic proof of the results achieved by three-dimensional regenerative phlebotherapy; these results demonstrate the validity of the new phlebological concepts that we have developed over years of research and experimentation. It should be remembered that venous disorders constitute a serious social disease that affects millions of people and is a costly burden to the community. Finally, it should be borne in mind that treatment should be undertaken at the first signs of the disease, in the young and in those with a familial predisposition, rather than treating fully manifest varicose veins.
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Three-dimensional Regenerative Phlebotherapy Fleboterapia tridimensional Regenerativa |
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