Foam sclerotherapy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section does not cite its references or sources.
Please help improve this article by introducing appropriate citations. (help, get involved!) This article has been tagged since December 2006.

Foam sclerotherapy is a sclerotherapy technique that involves injecting “foamed sclerosant drugs” within a blood vessel using a syringe. The sclerosant drugs (Sodium Tetradecyl Sulfate or polidocanol etc ) are mixed with air or a physiological gas (carbon dioxide) in a syringe or by using mechanical pumps. The idea is to increase the surface area of the drug. The foam sclerosant drug is more efficacious than the liquid one in causing sclerosis (coagulation of blood and sealing off the blood flow), for it does not mix with the blood in vessel and in fact it displaces it, thus avoiding dilution of the drug and causing maximal sclerosant action. Experts of foam sclerotherapy can create “tooth paste” like thick foam for their injections, which has revolutionized the treatment of venous malformations, especially Klippel Trenaunay Weber syndrome.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../f/o/a/Foam_sclerotherapy.html"