Table 1.
Characteristics of the included studies
| First author, reference | Year | Country | Study type | No. patients | Recruitment time (months) | Index injected agent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ambrose [20] | 1985 | UK | RCT | 62 | NR | 5% phenol in oil |
| Khoury [21] | 1985 | UK | RCT | 62 | 35 | 5% phenol in oil |
| Gartell [22] | 1985 | UK | RCT | 109 | 72 | 5% phenol in oil |
| Senapati [23] | 1988 | UK | RCT | 23 | NR | 5% phenol in oil |
| Mann [43] | 1988 | UK | PCS | 100 | 8 | 5% phenol in oil |
| Jamjoom [58] | 1991 | Saudi Arabia | PCS | 280 | 36 | 5% phenol in oil |
| Ponsky [54] | 1991 | USA | RCS | 18 | NR | 23.4% saline |
| Varma [24] | 1991 | Hong Kong | RCT | 28 | NR | 5% phenol in oil |
| Santos [44] | 1993 | UK | RCS | 189 | 12 | 5% phenol in oil |
| Jaspersen [25] | 1993 | Germany | RCT | 40 | NR | 5% phenol in oil |
| Kanellos [62] | 2000 | Greece | RCS | 240 | 72 | 5% phenol in oil |
| Kanellos [26] | 2003 | Greece | RCT | 80 | 48 | 5% phenol in oil |
| Khan [27] | 2006 | Pakistan | RCT | 52 | 8 | 5% phenol in oil |
| Takano [35] | 2006 | Japana | CC | 80 | 36 | OC-108 |
| Benin [45] | 2007 | Italy | RCS | 250 | NR | STS foam |
| Yuksel [28] | 2008 | Turkey | RCT | 62 | 24 | 3% polidocanol liquid |
| Hachiro [8] | 2011 | Japan | RCS | 448 | 50 | ALTA |
| Awad [29] | 2012 | Egypt | RCT | 60 | 24 | 5% EO or N-BC |
| Moser [14] | 2013 | Germanya | RCT | 66 | 25 | 3% polidocanol foam |
| Tokunaga [36] | 2013 | Japan | PCS | 940 | 38 | ALTA |
| An [52] | 2014 | China/Japana | PCS | 760 | 72 | An’s Shaobei |
| Yano [38] | 2014 | Japan | PCS | 57 | 60 | ALTA |
| Zhang [55] | 2015 | China | PCS | 30 | NR | Polidocanol |
| Yano [37] | 2015 | Japan | RCS | 55 | 12 | 5% phenol in oil |
| Tomiki [40] | 2015 | Japan | PCS | 83 | 36 | ALTA |
| Miyamoto [41] | 2016 | Japana | RCS | 169b | 73 | ALTA |
| Akindiose [59] | 2016 | Nigeria | PCS | 40 | 18 | 5% phenol in oil |
| Shah [30] | 2018 | India | RCT | 25 | NR | 3% polidocanol liquid |
| Tomiki [39] | 2019 | Japan | PCS | 33 | 36 | ALTA |
| Fernandes [50] | 2019 | Portugal | PCS | 2000 | 68 | 2% polidocanol foam |
| Ronconi [46] | 2019 | Italy | RCS | 615 | 132 | 3% polidocanol foam |
| Abiodun [31] | 2020 | Nigeria | RCT | 30 | 12 | 50% dextrose water |
| Makanjuola [53] | 2020 | Nigeria | PCS | 37 | 12 | 3% polidocanol liquid |
| Mishra [34] | 2020 | India | RCT | 75 | 15 | 3% polidocanol liquid |
| Shafi [32] | 2021 | Pakistan | RCT | 60 | 12 | 3% polidocanol liquid |
| Lobascio [12] | 2021 | Italy | RCS | 66 | 17 | 3% polidocanol foam |
| Neves [33] | 2022 | Portugal | RCT | 24 | 6 | 3% polidocanol foam |
| Gallo [47] | 2022 | Italya | PCS | 183 | 6 | 3% polidocanol foam |
| Xie [56] | 2022 | China | RCS | 201 | 45 | 1% polidocanol liquid |
| Abe [42] | 2022 | Japan | RCS | 1180 | 96 | ALTA |
| Salgueiro [51] | 2022 | Portugala | PCS | 228 | 19 | 3% polidocanol foam |
| Salgueiro [3] | 2022 | Portugal | RCT | 60 | NR | 3% polidocanol foam |
| Goglia [48] | 2022 | Italy | PCS | 50 | 3 | 3% polidocanol foam |
| Lisi [49] | 2022 | Italy | PCS | 19 | 14 | 3% polidocanol foam |
RCT randomized controlled trial; RCS retrospective cohort study; PCS prospective cohort study; CC case–control study; ALTA aluminum potassium sulfate and tannic acid; EO ethanolamine oleate; N-BC N-butyl cyanoacrylate; STS sodium tetradecyl sulfate; NR not reported; An’s Shaobei is a Chinese herbal remedy containing extracts of herbs, i.e., citric acid, gallic acid, paeoniflorin; adjuvant material was aseptic sterile water for injection
aMulticenter
bGrade III