Chronic venous disease cases at the Iaşi dermatology clinic

Chronic venous disease (CVD) is defined as a disturbance of blood return to the deep venous system, superficial venous system, and communicating (perforating) veins. Once present, CVD persists throughout life, so like heart failure it is nowadays considered "a condition for life". Severe CVD of the lower limbs is one of the most common medical problems, affecting up to 25% of the general adult population of industrialized countries.

AIM

to determine the incidence of CVD among the cases admitted to the Dermatology Clinic of the' "Sf. Spiridon" Emergency Clinical Hospital Iasi, CVD incidence by sex, age, area of residence and the main pathogens incriminated in super infection of ulcerative lesions.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

We did a retrospective study of patients admitted to the Dermatology Clinic of the Iasi "Sf. Spiridon" Emergency Hospital over a five years period.

RESULTS

Of the total number of patients admitted to our clinic (9375), 57% were diagnosed with CVD and 26.61% of them were with CEAP 6 class chronic venous insufficiency. There was an approximately equal sex distribution and most patients (44%) were older than 65 years.

CONCLUSIONS

We did a large epidemiological study of venous disease, based on revised CEAP classification, showing again that it is not only a very important medical problem, with various clinical manifestation and multidisciplinary approach, but also an important issue for health insurance system.

Management of venous leg ulcers in general practice - a practical guideline

BACKGROUND

Chronic venous leg ulcers are the most common wounds seen in general practice. Their management can be both challenging and time-consuming.

OBJECTIVE

To produce a short practical guideline incorporating the TIME concept and A2BC2D approach to help general practitioners and their practice nurses in delivering evidence-based initial care to patients with chronic venous leg ulcers.

CONCLUSION

Most chronic venous leg ulcers can be managed effectively in the general practice setting by following the simple, evidence-based approach described in this article. Figure 1 provides a flow chart to aid in this process. Figure 2 illustrates the principles of management in general practice.

DISCUSSION

Effective management of chronic ulcers involves the assessment of both the ulcer and the patient. The essential requirements of management are to debride the ulcer with appropriate precautions, choose dressings that maintain adequate moisture balance, apply graduated compression bandage after evaluation of the arterial circulation and address the patient's concerns, such as pain and offensive wound discharge.

[Nutrition and chronic wound healing. A clinical case of a patient with a hard to heal venous leg ulcers]

The cronicity of a wound can be produced by the alteration of several factors. One of the agents that can produce a delay in the wound healing process is malnutrition. According with the evidence, nutrition is an important factor in chronic wound prevention and treatment. The prevalence of low extremity wounds increases in population aged 65 or more. As we became older, malnutrition risk is more relevant due to physiological changes related to ageing. We describe a clinical case of a torpid venous leg ulcer in an elder patient centering on nutrition assessment and management.

Venous ulcer: risk factors and the Nursing Outcomes Classification

OBJECTIVE

To explore the relationship between the risk factors for the development of venous ulcers and the indicators of tissue integrity from the Nursing Outcomes Classification.

METHODOLOGY

A cross-sectional study conducted in 2013 in a university hospital in Natal/RN (Brazil). Fifty individuals selected by consecutive sampling participated in an interview and physical examination.

RESULTS

The most important risk factors were: 44% presented with arterial hypertension, 26% allergy, 20% diabetes mellitus, 4% participated in some physical activity, 6% were smokers and 14% drank alcohol. There was a statistically significant association between diabetes mellitus and the texture of the lesion (p=0.015) and tissue perfusion (p=0.026); allergy and texture (p=0.034); physical activity and hydration (p = 0.034); smoking and thickness (p = 0.018); and alcoholism and exudate of the ulcer (p=0.045).

CONCLUSION

. The relationship between risk factors and the nursing outcome indicators generated information relevant to the development of guidelines for the monitoring and treatment of venous ulcer information.

The effect of revascularization procedures on healing of mixed arterial and venous leg ulcers

AIM

The optimal management of venous leg ulcers in patients with concomitant peripheral artery disease (PAD) remains unclear. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of revascularization procedures in healing of the ulcers of mixed etiology.

METHODS

During a 6-year period a total of 20 patients with evidence of chronic venous insufficiency, impaired arterial perfusion (ABI<0.75) and active leg ulcer were treated. Patients with moderate PAD (0.5<ABI<0.75) were treated conservatively with modified compression and were considered for revascularization if the ulcer did not heal, while those with severe PAD (ABI<0.5) underwent revascularization.

RESULTS

Eleven out of seventeen (64.7%) limbs with moderate arterial disease showed a significant healing progress after modified compression and healed at an average time of 24.7±3.1 weeks, while the other 6 limbs (35.3%) failed to improve underwent revascularization and healed at an average time of 16±2.6 weeks. Three limbs with severe arterial disease underwent revascularization and healed at an average time of 17.6±2.5 weeks. Overall the nine arterial interventions had a 100% technical success rate, while ABI improved from 0.54±0.07 to 0.94±0.04 after the intervention. The 30-day mortality was null. Healing time in patients treated with revascularization was significantly lower compared to those treated conservatively (16.6±2.6 weeks vs. 24.7±3.2 weeks, P<0.001). During the follow-up period (48.7±14.3 months), there were 9 ulcer recurrences, 6 in the group of conservative treatment and 3 in the group of revascularization. No significant difference in recurrences between the two groups (log rank=0.772, P=0.38) was demonstrated.

CONCLUSION

A protocol-driven therapeutic strategy that includes a revascularization procedure as a therapeutic option in patients with ulcers of mixed etiology may be beneficial. Based on the current data, it is essential the therapeutic strategy to be individualized by including an overall risk assessment accounting for comorbidities of the patient and the risk of the procedure.

CHIVA method for the treatment of chronic venous insufficiency

BACKGROUND

Many surgical approaches are available to treat varicose veins secondary to chronic venous insufficiency. One of the least invasive techniques is the ambulatory conservative hemodynamic correction of venous insufficiency method (cure conservatrice et hémodynamique de l'insuffisance veineuse en ambulatoire (CHIVA)), an approach based on venous hemodynamics with deliberate preservation of the superficial venous system.

OBJECTIVES

To compare the efficacy and safety of the CHIVA method with alternative therapeutic techniques to treat varicose veins.

SEARCH METHODS

The Trials Search Co-ordinator of the Cochrane Peripheral Vascular Diseases Group searched the Specialised Register (November 2012), CENTRAL (2012, Issue 10) and clinical trials databases. The review authors searched PubMed and EMBASE (December 2012). There was no language restriction. We contacted study authors to obtain more information when necessary.

SELECTION CRITERIA

We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that compared the CHIVA method versus any other treatments. Two review authors independently selected and evaluated the studies. One review author extracted data and performed the quantitative analysis.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

Two independent review authors extracted data from the selected papers. We calculated the risk ratio (RR), mean difference (MD), the number of people needed to treat for an additional beneficial outcome (NNTB), and the number of people needed to treat for an additional harmful outcome (NNTH), with 95% confidence intervals (CI) using Review Manager 5.

MAIN RESULTS

We included four RCTs with 796 participants (70.5% women) from the 434 publications identified by the search strategy. Three RCTs compared the CHIVA method with vein stripping, and one RCT compared the CHIVA method with compression dressings in people with venous ulcers. We judged the methodological quality of the included studies as low to moderate. The overall risk of bias across studies was high because neither participants nor outcome assessors were blinded to the interventions. The primary endpoint, clinical recurrence, pooled between studies over a follow-up of 3 to 10 years, showed more favorable results for the CHIVA method than for vein stripping (721 people; RR 0.63; 95% CI 0.51 to 0.78; I(2) = 0%, NNTB 6; 95% CI 4 to 10) or compression dressings (47 people; RR 0.23; 95% CI 0.06 to 0.96; NNTB 3; 95% CI 2 to 17). Only one study reported data on quality of life and these results presented graphically significantly favored the CHIVA method.The vein stripping group had a higher risk of side effects than the CHIVA group; specifically, the RR for bruising was 0.63 (95% CI 0.53 to 0.76; NNTH 4; 95% CI 3 to 6) and the RR for nerve damage was 0.05 (95% CI 0.01 to 0.38; I(2) = 0%; NNTH 12; 95% CI 9 to 20). There were no statistically significant differences between groups regarding the incidence of limb infection and superficial vein thrombosis.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS

The CHIVA method reduces recurrence of varicose veins and produces fewer side effects than vein stripping. However, we based these conclusions on a small number of trials with a high risk of bias as the effects of surgery could not be concealed. New RCTs are needed to confirm these results and to compare CHIVA with approaches other than open surgery.

A cross-sectional, comparative study of pain and activity in persons with and without injection-related venous ulcers

Persons with leg ulcers, including venous ulcers, often report pain. A cross-sectional, comparative study was conducted among 61 patients receiving care in an urban clinic (31 with and 30 without a venous ulcer, mean age 54 years [range 40 to 65 years], 93% African American) to examine pain and its relation to activity and walking in persons with injectionrelated venous ulcers. The questionnaire included items about pain and its treatment, as well as activity and walking (ie, Brief Pain Inventory [BPI] Short Form, Self-Treatment of Pain, Pain and Narcotic Use, Difficulty with Activities, and Walking Scale questionnaires). Among those with a venous ulcer (VU+), worst pain significantly related to total interference (r = 0.65, P <0.0001) and total difficulty (r = 0.42, P = 0.02) BPI scores. The common pain sites for those VU+ involved the legs (24, 36.4%), wound sites (13, 19.7%), back (eight, 12.1%), general body (five, 7.6%), shoulder and knee (four, 6.1% each), and other (eight, 12.1%). Persons VU+ were more likely than those without a venous ulcer (VU-) to have received a prescription for narcotics in the past year (96% versus 41%, X(2) = 21.3, P <0.0001). Persons VU+ versus VU- were significantly (X(2) = 8.89, P = 0.003) more likely to resort to street drug use and relapse to addiction if pain was not adequately treated. They were also twice as likely to have decreased walking over the past 5 years (67% versus 33%, X(2) = 5.93, P <0.02). Among those VU+, venous ulcers added to chronic pain and decreased walking. These findings highlight the negative effects of injection-related venous ulcers on pain, activity, and walking, as well as the propensity of this groupto resort to illicit drug use for pain control. Persons VU+ should have pain assessed and treated.

[Climatic impact on venous ulcers of the leg]

Venous leg ulcers have a multifactorial origin. The environmental temperature appears to distinctly modulate the initiation and the subsequent evolution of the leg ulcer. The chronobiology of both episodes is quite distinct. A cold climate favors the initiation while a warmer climate tends to aggravate the ulcer. The seasonal fluctuations of the ulcer process are likely correlated with vasomotor phenomena taking place in the skin following variation in ambient temperature.

[Potential causes and optimal treatment strategy of recurrent venous ulceration in lower limb]

OBJECTIVE

To explore the potential causes and the optimal treatments of recurrent venous ulceration of lower limbs after initial operation.

METHODS

Data of patients admitted between January 2000 and June 2010 for recurrent ulceration in lower limbs after previous operation were retrospectively analyzed. Altogether 81 limbs in 73 patients were recruited. There were 55 male patients (60 limbs) and 18 female patients (21 limbs). The average age was 52.6 years (ranging from 31 to 73 years). All the patients had received at least one surgery procedures before recurrence. The average time between ulceration recurrence and the last operation was 10.6 months (ranging from 5 to 37 months). Average diameter of ulcers was 3.7 cm (ranging from 1.3 to 6.5 cm). Color duplex sonography before re-treatment revealed incompetent calf perforators in 57 limbs (70.4%), primary deep vein insufficiency in 38 limbs (46.9%), post-DVT syndrome in 16 limbs (19.8%), reflux of accessory saphenous veins in 11 limbs (13.6%) and residual/re-opened great saphenous vein in 8 limbs (9.9%). Managements including stripping of great saphenous vein, ligation around the ulcer, percutanous ligation of varicose veins, valvoplasty, and adjuvant compressive therapy were adopted according to different venous abnormality.

RESULTS

All the patients were followed. All the ulcers healed and hemodynamic indexes were greatly improved 6 months after re-operation. Only 3 limbs (3.7%) suffered again from recurrence 1 year after re-operation.

CONCLUSIONS

Incompetent perforators in calf, primary or secondary deep vein insufficiency and incorrectly treated saphenous veins are main causes for recurrent venous ulceration in our series. Management of residual vein abnormalities can still achieve satisfying clinical outcome.

[Method of local treatment of trophic ulcers of venous etiology]

The study is based on the results of local treatment of trophic ulcers of 150 patients with chronic venous insufficiency of the lower extremities. Local treatment is laser treatment and diagnostic unit with a wavelength λ=0,65 mkm and output power of 30 mW in pulsed mode for 10 minutes 1 times per day for 7-10 days. As an objective criterion for determining the speed and intensity of the healing of trophic ulcers and non-contact fixing their area of applied computer thermography. True healing of ulcers was achieved in all patients during the period from 14 to 28 days.