Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25218239›Full record

ArticleIrish journal of medical science2015

Endovenous radiofrequency ablation: no value in short-term duplex ultrasound follow-up.

M Broe, F M Shaikh, A Leahy

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Article in Irish journal of medical science, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact, top 92% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed, 1 citations in OpenAlex.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

M BroeDepartment of Surgery, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, Ireland, markbroe@rcsi.ie.
F M Shaikh
A Leahy
Beaumont Hospital · IE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionEndogenous radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is a proven treatment for varicose veins that has equal efficacy to surgical stripping. It offers the benefit of reduced post operative pain and wound infection and quicker return to work.

aimTo carry out a clinical audit of patients undergoing RFA to monitor outcomes, complication rates, follow-up sclerotherapy and to assess the need for post-operative duplex scan.

methodsA retrospective analysis was performed of 174 procedures carried out from January 2011 to March 2012. Patients were pre-assessed with history, physical exam and duplex ultrasound. They were followed up at 3 months with same. CEAP classification was applied to check for post-operative improvement.

results174 procedures, including 165 great saphenous vein and 9 short saphenous vein ablations were carried out on 154 patients. The duplex occlusion rate at 3 months was 99 %. 141 patients (81 %) showed a reduction in CEAP score with average CEAP decreasing from 2.37 to 0.96. Overall the complication rate was low at 7 %. Paraesthesia was the most common complication with 7 cases (4 %). There were no DVTs. 45.4 % of patients went on to have follow-up sclerotherapy for venous flares.

conclusionRFA is a safe and effective treatment for varicose veins. There is no benefit in performing routine short term follow-up duplex scan due to the high occlusion rates.

Indexed as

Catheter AblationFemaleFollow-Up StudiesHumansMaleMiddle AgedRetrospective StudiesSaphenous VeinSclerotherapyTreatment OutcomeUltrasonography, Doppler, DuplexVaricose Veins

Identifiers

PMID25218239
OpenAlexW1994204552

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.