Treatment of varices of the lower extremities during pregnancy

: The authors studied 500 pregnant women suffering from varicose pathology, they had the opportunity to observe in the years 1979, 1980, 1981. The range of age hit was between 18 and 46 years. A higher prevalence occurred in pluriparae (82.8%) in respect of primiparae (17.2%). As to the type of varicose pathology observed, 40% showed diffused teleangectasies; 30% essential varices weighing on small and large saphena; 20% associations of the two former types; 6.4% post-phlebitic syndromes with insufficiency of the deep communicating vessels, and 3.6% pudendae venous ectasies. The medical treatment, aiming to avoid venous stasis and rise in weight, was effected in 94% of cases: in 40% of cases a choice was also done for a pharmacologic treatment with synthetic glucofuranoside compounds, interrupted in 3.5% of the patients for the arising of more or less various symptoms of gastric intolerance. In the remaining 6% of cases, it was essential to adopt the surgical treatment, always performed after the 4th month of pregnancy and in epidural anaesthesia. As to the surgical indications, the authors remarked the higher frequency for the post-phlebitic syndromes with incompetence of the deep communicating vessels and serious tropic alterations, affecting in the rate of 40% the operated patients and 2.4% the varicose pathology they aggregately had the opportunity to observe. The other indications were the surface thrombophlebites (33.4%), varices with remarkable subjective troubles and cutaneous alterations of average and serious importance (6,6%) and larger caliper varices in pluriparae (20%). The authors, in the several middle and long term follow-up, never recorded any relapses in the patients surgically treated.