Analysis of recurrence rate of great saphanous vein incompetence after endovenous laser therapy base on propensity score matching method

Objective To compare the difference in recurrence rates between the endovenous laser therapy(EVLT) combined with percutaneous continuous circumsuture(PCCS) and simplex EVLT following the treatment of great saphanous vein incompetence through the introduction of propensity score matching(PSM). Methods T the baseline data of 170 patients diagnosed with great saphanous vein incompetence who were treated in Punan Hospital in Pudong New District of Shanghai from 2009 to 2014 were retrospectively analyzed, of which underwent EVLT were 87 cases as EVLT group and EVLT combined with PCCS were 83 cases as EVLT+ PCCS group.The groups covariate were balanced based on the PSM function of SPSS software using 1: 1 nearest neighbor matching method.The recurrence rates of the two groups were estimated by Kaplan-Meier method and the differences between the two groups were evaluated by Log-rank test. Results Sixty-seven pairs of patients were successfully matched.No significant difference between the two matched groups in the basic clinical features.Before PSM, the 1, 2, and 3 year cummulative recurrence rates were 3.5%, 5.4% and 7.3% in the EVLT group, and 0.9%, 4.7% and 4.7% in the EVLT+ PCCS group, respectively, there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups by Log-rank test(P=0.491). After PSM, the 1, 2, and 3 year cummulative recurrence rates were 5.2%, 5.2% and 7.1% in the EVLT group, and 0%, 1.0% and 1.0% in the EVLT+ PCCS group, there were statistically significant differences between the two groups(P=0.031). Conclusion The PSM methods can effectively balanced the covariates of groups in non-randomised study.EVLT combined with PCCS can effectively reduce the recurrence rate after the treatment of great saphanous vein incompetence. Key words: Great saphanous vein incompetence; Endovenous laser therapy; Percutaneous continuous circumsuture; Propensity score matching; Recurrence rate