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Background Safety and effectiveness of radiofrequency ablation for incompetent small saphenous vein is not established. Objective To report midterm clinical and ultrasonograhic results of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for small saphenous vein (SSV) in terms of recanalization and sural neuritis. Methods and materials We examined 39 patients (46 limbs) who had been examined using a duplex scan more than 1 year after RFA of SSV. Postoperative clinical results, risk factors for SSV recanalization, and sural neuritis were analyzed. Results CEAP score and CIVIQ2 score improved significantly in all patients (CEAP: 2.45 to 1.43 (p = .03); CIVIQ2: 25.34 to 13.21 (p = .01). SSV obliteration rate was 93.4% at 1 year and 89.1% at 2 years. Preoperative peak reflux velocity in the recanalization group (54.9 cm/s) was significantly higher (p

The pathogenic mechanism of nicotine, a major product of smoking, on vascular endothelial cells is not well defined yet. The purpose of this study was to determine whether chronic exposure to nicotine alters angiogenic activity in human umbilical vein endothelial cells and to identify a potential role for endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) expression. Our study demonstrated that acute nicotine treatment enhanced nitric oxide release, eNOS activation, and proangiogenic activity. However, chronic nicotine exposure impaired proangiogenic function (decreased cell migration and tubular structure formation) in human umbilical vein endothelial cells compared with acute exposure, but sustained the antiapoptotic effect. These findings seem to be related to eNOS gene expression and nitric oxide production, which may be involved in the pathophysiology of chronic nicotine addicts.