Treatment of chronic venous insufficiency in Latin America

Abstract

Objective: Venous disease is common in Latin America, with an estimated 68.11% prevalence of chronic venous disease. The diverse social, political, and economic characteristics of the many nations that make up Latin America mean that different conditions affect how these diseases are diagnosed and treated, which may differ markedly from the way they are treated by the health care systems of the United States and Europe. Our goal was to review the current state of treatment of chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) in Latin America.

Methods: This is a narrative review of the medical literature on the subject and synthesizes sometimes fragmentary information on CVI across a large and diverse region.

Results: CVI represents an unmet medical need in Latin America. Conservative treatments, such as compression stockings, may be used at first, and there are nonpharmacologic and complementary and alternative medicine approaches in use. Endovenous approaches, such as endovenous thermal ablation, have largely replaced surgical interventions. In Europe and the United States, such procedures are mainly carried out in ambulatory facilities, whereas they are mainly performed in the hospital in Latin America.

Conclusions: Recent strong economic growth in Latin America and improvements in social security and health care suggest that innovative approaches to chronic venous disease and CVI will be implemented.

Keywords: Chronic venous insufficiency; Endovenous ablation; Latin America; Sickle cell disease and Latin America; Venous disease in Latin America.