Ethanol Sclerotherapy of Superficial Venous Malformation: A New Procedure

BACKGROUND: Superficial venous malformations (SVM) are the most frequent vascular malformations. Outpatient percutaneous treatment with ethanol injection has rarely been described. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the results from treating SVM patients with ethanol sclerotherapy. METHODS: 81 patients were followed up prospectively over a median period of 18 months. 47 were female and 34 were male with a median age of 21 years. Most of the lesions were located in the limbs and the main symptom reported was pain. Each patient underwent fortnightly alcohol injection sessions. RESULTS: The lesions and the symptoms completely disappeared or improved in 77 patients. There were no complications in 64 patients, while 11 presented a small skin ulcer, 3 hyperpigmentation and 3 paresthesia. CONCLUSION: Ethanol sclerotherapy for SVM patients was effective, with a low complication rate.