2025 SCAI Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management of Chronic Venous Disease: This statement was endorsed by the Society for Vascular Medicine (SVM).

BACKGROUND

Chronic venous disease (CVD) is a common vascular condition that can have debilitating effects on quality of life and daily function. The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions (SCAI) sought to develop evidence-based guidelines to support patients, clinicians, and other stakeholders in their treatment decisions about management of CVD.

METHODS

SCAI convened a balanced multidisciplinary guideline panel to minimize potential bias from conflicts of interest. The Evidence Foundation, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, provided methodological support for the development of the guidelines. The guideline panel formulated and prioritized clinical questions following the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach in population, intervention, comparison, outcome format. A technical review team of clinical and methodological experts conducted systematic reviews of the published evidence, synthesized data, and graded the certainty of the evidence across outcomes. The guideline panel then reconvened to develop recommendations and supporting remarks informed by the results of the technical review, as well as additional contextual factors described in the GRADE evidence-to-decision framework.

RESULTS

The guideline panel reached consensus on 9 recommendations to address variations in treatment of CVD across 8 different clinical scenarios. The panel also identified 4 anatomical scenarios with significant knowledge gaps.

CONCLUSIONS

Key recommendations address patient selection for compression therapy, ablation of saphenous and perforator veins, sclerotherapy, phlebectomy, and deep vein revascularization. Two algorithms for the management of symptomatic varicose veins and venous ulcer disease were created to facilitate implementation of these evidence-based recommendations. The panel also identified several anatomical and clinical areas where future research is needed to advance the CVD field.