Compression Therapy Versus Surgery in the Treatment of Patients with Varicose Veins: A RCT, effect on HR QoL?

Varicose veins are common in the people in population groups. Many of them are afraid of operations and at the same time they do not want go for the stockings in the tropical countries. Some of them work in the wet surroundings and they would like to avoid the stockings and compression bandages. Some of them are keen to undergo interventional therapies but they are too expensive ( RF ablation/ Laser) for them. Some times they don't like to undergo surgical treatment after knowing about the recurrence rates.

So, the question before them would be - which is one is better to opt for,  stockings or varicose  vein interventional therapies?  In one study of two year follow up - it was observed that -
At 2 years, 70/76 patients in the surgery group and 11/77 patients in the compression group had been operated on. VCSS-S decreased from 4.6 to 3.5 in the compression group (p < .01) and from 4.8 to 0.6 in the surgery group (p < .001). VSDS decreased from 7.7 to 7.0 in the compression group and from 8.2 to 0.9 in the surgery group (p < .0001). HRQoL did not change in the compression group, but improved significantly in the surgery group. It was concluded that - The surgical elimination of non-complicated superficial venous reflux is an effective treatment when compared with providing compression stockings only. 

HRQoL did not change in the compression group, but improved significantly in the surgery group.

http://www.ejves.com/article/S1078-5884(14)00096-3/abstract 

Pinjala R K