Table A5. Clinical Trials Involving RFA Ablation versus Surgical Treatment for Varicose Veins.

Study	Trial Design Objective	Subjects	Co-Interventions	Setting Operator Anaesthesia	Follow-Up
Hinchliffe, 2006 (81)	2-arm within-person RCT Operative and post-operative pain and morbidity in recurrent bilateral VV	75% (12/16) F Median age 54 years (range 44 - 66)	Concurrent, phlebectomy	Operating theatre Surgeon General anaesthesia	6 weeks
Kianifard , 2006 (89)	Matched case control Occurrence of angiogenesis at 1-year	39% (20/51) F Mean age 5.4 range 28-83	NR	NR Vascular surgeon	1 week 1 year
Lurie 2003, 2005 (82;83)	2-arm RCT Intra-operative and early (4-mo) post-operative complications, recovery, HRQOL Vein ablation, symptoms and HRQOL at 1 and 2-yrs	73% (52/80) F Median age RFA = 49 ± 4 years, surgery = 47 ± 4	Concurrent, adjunctive procedures limited to below knee	Operating theatre 5 sites, surgeons Tumescent anaesthesia with or without regional or general anaesthesia	4 months 2 years
Rautio 2002 (85)	2-arm RCT and costing	93% (26/28) F Mean age RFA = 33 ± 6.7	Concurrent, phlebectomy	Operating theatre Surgeon and for RFA	8 weeks 3 years
Perala , 2005 (84)	Post-operative pain, sick leave, HRQOL,, costs	years, surgery = 38 ± 6.8 years		surgeon and an interventional radiologist General anaesthesia
Stotter 2006 (86)	3-arm RCT	72% (43/60) F RFA = men 41 years,	Adjunctive procedures not performed	Operating theatre surgeon	6 weeks 1 year
	Post-operative morbidity, pain, vein closure	women,44 years Invagination stripping = men 54
	Recanalization and neovascularisation at 1-yr	years, women 51 years Cryostripping = men 42 years, women 41 years
Subramonia 2008, 2010 (87;88)	2-arm RCT Vein symptoms, vein ablation and costs	69% (61/88) F Median age RFA = 47years (range 38-58), surgery = 45 years (range 37 – 53)	Concurrent, phlebectomy	Operating theatre Surgeons General anaesthesia	1 week 5 weeks

^* RCT refers to randomized controlled trial; GSV, great saphenous vein; SFJ, saphenofemoral junction