[Conservative treatment of chronic venous insufficiency].

A better reduction of ambulatory venous hypertension in CVI individuals has been reported with high-pressure bandages in comparison to compression stockings which exert a lower pressure [7]. Moreover although higher pressure bandaging systems appear to be more efficient at ameliorating venous incompetence than lower pressure, the optimal amount and duration of compression is debateable [10]. In a study including patients suffering from venous leg ulcers inelastic material is reported to be more effective at reducing deep venous refluxes than elastic bandages [11]. Stockings provide stable and predictable interface pressure (IP), even though the golden standard of clinically efficient pressure is not well documented [6,12]. In addition despite the fact that their prescription is generally adopted from the medical community there is always the drawback of poor patient compliance attributable to wear-comfort factors and a subtle sense of restriction which debilitates the practicality of this method [6,13]. Finally regarding this kind of compression therapy, Amsler and Blattler performed a meta-nalysis including several RCTs and concluded that leg compression within the range of 10–15 mmHg is an effective treatment for chronic venous disease whilst the higher pressure leg garments failed to achieve additional benefit [12].