ABSTRACT
Objective To summarize the experience in diagnosis and treatment of popliteal vein entrapment syndrome (PVES). Methods A total of 57 patients with PVES were selected from the Department of Vascular Surgery in Xinxiang Central Hospital from March 2009 to October 2015. Of which 43 patients were severe stenosis of popliteal vein (stenosis degree>90%), and another 14 cases were with stenosis less than 90%. All the patients underwent ascending venography of low limb to confirm the clinical classification after admission. Forty-three cases with severe stenosis of the popliteal vein were treated with releasing popliteal vein of entrapment and stripping varicose veins. The static pressure and dynamic pressure of popliteal vein and foot dorsal vein were measured before and after operation. Another 14 patients were treated with medical circulation driven sock and medical therapy. Results The degrees of popliteal vein stenosis were more than 75% in all patients. The patients were divided into bove-knee stenosis (n=9), knee stenosis (n=18), and below-knee stenosis (n=30) according to the different parts of stenosis. Forty-three patients treated with surgery showed relief of leg swelling and pain, and ulcer healing. And the imaging examination showed that there were no obvious compression and stenosis of popliteal vein, and vascular filling was well. The static pressure and dynamic pressure of the popliteal vein and dorsal vein were lower than those before surgery (P<0.05). The lower limb swelling and pain were relieved, and varicose veins of lower limbs were no longer continued to increase in 14 patients with conservative treatment. Conclusion PVES is easy to be misdiagnosed, which should be paid attention to, and satisfactory clinical results can be achieved by releasing popliteal vein of compression combined with stripping varicose veins in patients with serious symptoms .