Abstract
It is very important that patients seeking sclerotherapy for the treatment of venous
malformations are aware of the expected course of the therapy. They should be thoroughly
counseled about the complications, the need for multiple sessions of therapy, and
also about the expected clinical outcome. The aim of this review is to discuss the
long-term outcomes of sclerotherapy for the treatment of venous malformation. Many
studies have discussed their individual center's experiences and short-midterm results,
but there is a relative paucity of data on long-term outcomes. We have reviewed the
literature and also shared our experience of a large cohort of patients (n = 116) with a relatively longer follow-up period of more than 1 year. Venous malformations
are very complex lesions and their treatment is quite variable depending on its extent
and complexity. As a result, outcome studies vary considerably in the choice of sclerosant,
study methodology, outcome assessment (clinical vs. imaging), and grading scales.
This review also highlights this extreme heterogeneity in the literature of the sclerotherapy
outcome and summarizes a few national and international studies for comparison.
Keywords
venous malformation - sclerotherapy - interventional radiology
