REFERENCES

When one reads authors from the start of the century, one learns that all the methods of stripping used today were invented and developed during that period. Stripping by invagination, as described by Keller in 1905 [1], was immediately adopted and was much discussed by those who were already using catheter invagination, and who very clearly described how to unhook the collaterals in the thigh in order to avoid rupturing the saphenous vein [2]. In 1906, Mayo [3] described a stripping technique that involved pushing, around the vein, a ring fixed to a rod, and in 1907 Babcock [4] described stripping as we know it today. Since then all sorts of oliva and stripping methods have been invented, but the principles of saphenous exeresis remain the same. There are 4: saphenectomy with ring stripping (Mayo) [3], invaginated stripping by Keller [1], stripping by exoluminal telescoping (Babcock) [4] where the ìgatheringî oliva is designed, through its cupule shape, its size and its rigidity to go beyond the diameter of the stripped saphenous vein, and stripping by intraluminal telescoping where the oliva remains strictly within the saphenous lumen and is used to telescope the saphenous vein like an accordion onto the stripper.