As per a recent study issued in the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology, embolization was found to be safe and efficacious for the treatment of pelvic varicose veins.

This study by Miguel A De Gregorio et al. determined the effectiveness of embolization procedure in pelvic venous ailments in women with chronic pelvic pain.

Total of 617 patients with mean age of 43.2 ± 7.2 years diagnosed with pelvic venous disorders (PeVDs) had the embolization procedure. Out of which, 520 females were included, and 97 were excluded. The PeVD symptoms for more than six months served as the main inclusion criteria. And, also the transvaginal Doppler ultrasonography (TV-DUS) diagnosis of varicose veins in pelvis with more than 6 mm diameter.

Whenever possible, the 4 main pelvic venous plexi were to embolize. A follow-up via clinical symptoms with the help of visual analog scale and TV-DUS at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months and then every year for almost five years was accomplished.

As a result, the embolization treatment proved to be successful in 84.4% of patients. At 5 years, an improvement in VAS pain score was observed (Table 1).

* FPC-fibered platinum coil; AVP-Amplatzer vascular plug

Table 1: Improvement in VAS score before embolization and at 5 years’ follow-up

Overall, 26 patients had symptom recurrence and pelvic varicose veins. Major complications were more common than minor complications in patients (10.9 and 2.1% of patients).

Thus, embolization of pelvic varicose veins is an effective and safe approach. In routine chest radiographs, the late migration of metallic devices to the lung can be observed and could be a vital concern. Although there is no high quality comparative evidence available, but multiple studies have depicted the potential benefits of radiography.