Summary of findings 7. Laser compared to sclerotherapy for treatment of telangiectasias and reticular veins.
| Laser compared to sclerotherapy for treatment of telangiectasias and reticular veins | ||||||
| Patient or population: people with telangiectasias and reticular veins Setting: outpatient Intervention: laser Comparison: sclerotherapy | ||||||
| Outcomes | Anticipated absolute effects* (95% CI) | Relative effect (95% CI) | № of participants/procedures* (studies) | Certainty of the evidence (GRADE) | Comments | |
| Risk with sclerotherapy | Risk with laser | |||||
|
Resolution or improvement of telangiectasias (follow‐up: 4 ‐ 24 weeks) |
‐ | SMD 0.09 lower (0.25 lower to 0.07 higher) | ‐ | 593 (5 RCTs) | ⊕⊕⊕⊝ MODERATEa | ‐ |
|
Adverse events ‐ hyperpigmentation (follow‐up: 4 ‐ 24 weeks) |
Study population | RR 0.57 (0.40 to 0.80) | 262 (4 RCTs) | ⊕⊕⊕⊝ MODERATEa | ‐ | |
| 328 per 1000 | 187 per 1000 (131 to 263) | |||||
|
Adverse events ‐ matting (follow‐up: 16 ‐ 24 weeks) |
Study population | RR 1.00 (0.46 to 2.19) | 162 (2 RCTs) | ⊕⊕⊕⊝ MODERATEa | ‐ | |
| 123 per 1000 | 123 per 1000 (57 to 270) | |||||
|
Pain (follow‐up: 1 day) |
Study population | ‐ | 100 (2 RCTs) | ⊕⊝⊝⊝ LOWb | We were not able to pool the data due to high heterogeneity | |
| See comment | ‐ | |||||
| Recurrence | See comment | ‐ | ‐ | ‐ | ‐ | The studies in this comparison did not assess this outcome |
| Time to resolution | See comment | ‐ | ‐ | ‐ | ‐ | The studies in this comparison did not assess this outcome |
| Quality of life | See comment | ‐ | ‐ | ‐ | ‐ | The studies in this comparison did not assess this outcome |
| *The risk in the intervention group (and its 95% confidence interval) is based on the assumed risk in the comparison group and the relative effect of the intervention (and its 95% CI). CI: confidence interval; RCT: randomised controlled trial; RR: risk ratio; SMD: standardised mean difference | ||||||
| GRADE Working Group grades of evidence High certainty: We are very confident that the true effect lies close to that of the estimate of the effect Moderate certainty: We are moderately confident in the effect estimate: The true effect is likely to be close to the estimate of the effect, but there is a possibility that it is substantially different Low certainty: Our confidence in the effect estimate is limited: The true effect may be substantially different from the estimate of the effect Very low certainty: We have very little confidence in the effect estimate: The true effect is likely to be substantially different from the estimate of effect | ||||||
* Two studies used participants as the unit of analysis and three studies used the number of procedures as the unit of analysis for each comparison
aWe downgraded by one level due to wide CIs. bWe downgraded by two levels because of few included participants.