Anatomical variations of veins often play a crucial role in formation of thrombotic changes in superficial and deep veins of lower extremities. THE AIM of this study was to determine the frequency of the dominant type of the lower extremity superficial veins, and to determine the eventual influence of such variations to the formation of superficial and deep vein thrombosis (DVT).
Material and methods: The sample used in this study consisted of 180 patients subjected to ascedent contrast phlebography of lower extremities. The total sample was divided into following groups: patients with and without variations of the lower extremity superficial veins.
Results and discussion: Dominant type of the superficial veins (without variation) consisted of 97 patients (53.89%), while the rest of 83 patients showed some kind of anatomical variation (46.11%). The most frequent variation was the duplicated form ofv. saphena magna in 53.85%, while this procentage in women was 57.89%. Most frequent variations of duplicated v. saphena magna were: simple duplicated form, closed loop form, branching form and combined form. Topographical variation of saphenopopliteal junction besides fossa poplitea in the group of men showed procentage of 53.85%, while in the group of women that value accounted 63.16%.
Conclusion: The percentage of varicose veins was more frequent in men and women without variations, but deep vein DVT showed higher frequency in patients with anatomical variations of superficial veins of lower extremities.