Is chronic venous ulcer curable? A sample survey of a plastic surgeon
Introduction: Venous ulcers of lower limbs are often chronic and non-healing, many a time neglected by patients and their treating physicians as these ulcers mostly do not lead to amputation as in gangrenous arterial ulcer and also cost much to complete the course of treatment and prevention of recu...
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Published in | Indian journal of plastic surgery Vol. 44; no. 1; pp. 104 - 109 |
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Main Author | |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
India
Medknow Publications on behalf of Indian Journal of Plastic Surgery
01.01.2011
Thieme Medical Publishers Inc Medknow Publication Thieme Medical Publishers, Inc |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Introduction: Venous ulcers of lower limbs are often chronic and
non-healing, many a time neglected by patients and their treating
physicians as these ulcers mostly do not lead to amputation as in
gangrenous arterial ulcer and also cost much to complete the course of
treatment and prevention of recurrence. Materials and Methods: One
hundred and twenty two lower limb venous ulcers came up for treatment
between May 2006 and April 2009. Only twenty nine cases completed the
treatment. The main tool of investigation was the non invasive Duplex
scan venography. Biopsy of the ulcer was done for staging the disease.
Patients′ choice of treatment was always conservative and as
out-patient instead of hospitalisation and surgery, which required a
lot of motivation by the treating unit. Results: Out of twenty nine
cases, ten cases were treated conservatively and seven (24.13%) healed
well. Remaining nineteen cases were given surgical modality in which
fifteen cases (51.74%) were successful. Only seven cases (24.13%)
failed to heal. Compression stockings were advised to control oedema,
varices and pain. Foot care, regular exercises and follow-up were
stressed effectively. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 0970-0358 1998-376X |
DOI: | 10.4103/0970-0358.81457 |