History

A brief history of the Swiss Society of Phlebology (SSP)
by Dominik Heim, Jürg Traber and Jürg Hafner

The Swiss Society of Phlebology had its founding scientific meeting in Zurich in 1960. Its first president, Alfred Bolliger (1924-1989), was a charismatic general practitioner and, as a colonel in the Swiss army, an excellent organiser. In only its second year, the society held its first international meeting in Agno (Ticino, Italian-speaking Switzerland), and used this occasion to establish close, friendly contacts with the French, German, Austrian and Italian societies of phlebology. Soon afterwards the SSP joined the International Union of Phlebology (UIP). In 1971, the 4th World Congress of Phlebology was held in Lucerne under the leadership of Alfred Bolliger. With 600 participants and 140 papers, it was a very large and extremely successful congress by the standards of the time. Such events underlined the importance and prevalence of venous diseases and helped to give phlebology the official recognition it needed as a new medical discipline. From the 1980s onwards, several countries, the UEMS, and the AVF established well-founded and systematic training courses which allowed students to attain professional diplomas in phlebology.

Around the same time, angiology emerged from internal medicine in several European countries. In order to exploit the synergies between phlebology, angiology, vascular surgery, interventional angiology and basic vascular research, the five independent specialist societies founded the Union of Swiss Societies for Vascular Medicine (USGG). From then on, the SGP has continued to hold a two-day symposium each year in spring, often organised jointly with a partner phlebological society, such as the Société Française de Phlébologie.

In 1989, Werner Blättler (Fig.1) became the new SSP president and led the society for 7 years with great skill and foresight. He conducted research from his phlebology practice into outpatient thrombosis therapy, PTA with stenting of chronic iliac vein occlusion, low-pressure compression therapy, and psychosomatic leg complaints. He was succeeded in 1996 by Albert-Adrien Ramelet (Fig.2) whose scientific work focused on phlebectomy, oedema-protective substances, exercise-induced purpura and on bone perforators. Albert-Adrien Ramelet has written a considerable number of phlebology textbooks, sometimes co-authored with other renowned phlebologists. In 2004 Stefan Küpfer took over the SSP presidency for six years. Stefan Küpfer (Fig.2) is an excellent clinical teacher and organiser. He organised the triennial week-long Venalpina congress a total of three times, a feat that remains unmatched. Under his leadership, the three phlebology diplomas in Switzerland, which ensure a professional approach at the clinic and in practice, were established or updated. Philippe Kern became president of the SSP in 2010. His practice generated important studies on sclerotherapy. He also nurtured the particularly close contact with the French Society of Phlebology. Christina Jeanneret (Fig.3) became SSP president in 2013. Her research focuses on duplex sonography, venous reflux and wall weakness in varicosis. Under her leadership, numerous very successful advanced further-education courses were held, and serious attention was given to the promotion of female physicians in medical research and in medical committees. Jürg Hafner has been SSP President since 2019. His scientific field within phlebology is chronic wounds, particularly ulcus hypertonicum Martorell and research into more patient-friendly medical compression methods. During the lockdown caused by the covid pandemic, he advocated using webinars to allow continuing phlebology education. These were well attended. He also places great emphasis on the professional growth of young phlebologists. The spring symposia included many lectures specifically aimed at the young phlebologists of Switzerland. His term of office covers the organisation of Venalpina 2020 and 2023. The current committee is shown in Fig.4.

The important contacts in the international arena were developed in recent years by Albert-Adrien Ramelet, during his term as UIP Vice-President. Three years ago, in the summer of 2019, Dominik Heim was able to host the prestigious congress of the European Venous Forum (EVF) in Zurich. Interest was so great that registration had to be closed two weeks before the event. It was the hottest congress in the history of EVF, not only because of the topics, but also the temperature during the hottest June for years in Switzerland. Also worthy of note were the 12 medical students, called "Dominik’s angels”, who were responsible – with the strong team of Anne Taft and Dawn Bond from EVF London - for the smooth running of the congress. The SSP will bid for the UIP World Congress in 2027…

Health politics
The SSP is also the political arm of phlebology in Switzerland. In 2020 the SSP published a position paper on the diagnosis, indication, and tailored treatment of truncal varicose veins according to current guidelines, which perfectly matched an earlier position paper on the diagnosis and treatment of reticular and teleangiectasic varicose veins. With these two position papers, the SSP upholds the medical nature of major varicose veins and secures reimbursement of the necessary diagnostic and therapeutic measures, whereas treatment of reticular and teleangiectasic varicose veins is classed as esthetic medicine which still requires a very high level of expertise but should not be covered by health insurance. The SSP also successfully argued for the measurement and distribution of medical stockings by board-certified phlebologists in their medical offices. The agreement on reimbursement for endovenous thermoablation (radiofrequency or laser) of truncal varicose veins was a political milestone that the SSP was able to achieve in 2016. These contracts are still valid today.


Albert-Adrien Ramelet, MD, honorary president SSP, and Mr. Venalpina, Stefan Küpfer, MD	Werner Blättler, MD, the Swiss doyen of compression, SSP honorary president	Christina Jeanneret, Prof, MD, the previous president