More than 80 million people in the United States have problems with their veins - the vessels that return blood to the heart once it has circulated through the body.

 

There can be both physical and cosmetic symptoms of venous insufficiency. The most common of these include swelling, pain, and itchiness in the legs and ankles, as well as darkened and enlarged veins.

 

Though common, it’s important to get vein disease treated early to avoid potentially dangerous complications.

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Risk Factors

• Age over 50

• Overweight or obesity

• Family history of venous disease

• Smoking

• Inactivity

• Pregnancy

• Long periods of sitting or standing - People who work in industries that require lengthy periods of sitting or standing are at increased risk of varicose veins.

 

Signs and Symptoms

• Pain in your legs

• Fatigue, heaviness, aching, throbbing

• Burning, itching, cramping, restlessness

• Swelling in your legs

• Tortuous and bulging veins

• Leg skin color changes/browning of skin

• Development of thicker skin in legs

• Leg ulcers, especially around the ankles

• Phlebitis

• Recurrent leg infections

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What Is Chronic Venous Insufficiency?

The veins throughout your body carry blood from the capillaries in your body to your heart. In your legs, this means the blood has to flow upward against gravity. These leg veins have one-way valves to prevent blood from back flowing but sometimes time these valves can fail and close too tightly.

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This results in what is known as "venous reflux," a process that allows blood to pool and congests the leg veins with blood. This makes it difficult for blood to return to the heart from the legs. This puts increased pressure on the walls of the veins. The bulging and twisting veins are called varicose veins.

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Chronic venous insufficiency may have severe effects if left untreated. Skin color changes in the lower legs and around the ankles, or stasis pigmentation, is a sign of damaged, unhealthy skin. This may lead to bleeding and bruising after minor injuries, and ultimately, venous leg ulcers.

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Venous leg ulcers represent severe venous disease and are by far the most common form of ulcers affecting the lower extremities. Without treatment, venous ulcers may become chronic, and have a significant impact on quality of life, causing disability and social impairment.

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Other Conditions Resulting from Chronic Venous Insufficiency:

• Varicose Veins

• Venous Ulcers

• Pelvic Congestion Syndrome

• May–Thurner syndrome (MTS)

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Venous Treatments and Services:

When and how is Venous Insufficiency Treated?

Conservative measures such as compression therapy and lifestyle modifications are the first line of treatment for venous insufficiency.  With advances in technology, varicose veins and other venous conditions can be treated with different types of minimally-invasive procedures. We offer the best of them at our outpatient facilities.

Sclerotherapy

Sclerotherapy is the most effective treatment used to eliminate spider veins, reticular veins, and their symptoms. Treatment takes from 15 minutes to an hour is minimally invasive, and requires no anesthesia. The provider will use a very fine needle to inject a medicine (sclerosant) into the vein. This solution irritates the vein, making it shrink. It is then reabsorbed into other tissue in the body. A small bandage will be placed at the site of the injection and you can walk out of the surgical center with your treatment instructions.

Varithena

Varithena is a new injectable foam therapy approved by the FDA for the treatment of varicose veins. The non-surgical procedure is performed with ultrasound guidance as the doctor injects a micro-foam sclerosant in the vein, displacing the blood and causing the vein to shrink and close. Treatments can take 30 minutes or less and are often better tolerated than other procedures.

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Ambulatory Phlebectomy

Ambulatory phlebectomy is a technique used to remove surface varicose veins under local anesthesia on an outpatient basis in the office. Tiny incisions (stitches are generally not needed) are made in the skin and typically leave nearly imperceptible puncture mark scars. After the vein has been removed by phlebectomy, a bandage or compression stocking is worn for a short period of time.

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Endovenous Laser/Radiofrequency Treatment

The Endovenous laser delivers just the right wavelength of laser energy inside the vein to cause the incompetent vein to collapse and seal shut while your body automatically routes the blood to other healthy veins.

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The radiofrequency occlusion is a non-surgical treatment of the refluxing vein. A small catheter is inserted, through a needle stick in the skin, into the vein. The catheter delivers radiofrequency energy to the vein wall, causing heat. The vein then collapses and shuts.  Both Endovenous Laser and Radiofrequency Occlusion Ablation procedures typically take less than an hour to complete in an office setting with local anesthetic. Following the procedure a bandage and compression stocking is placed on the treated leg prior to going home. Both ablation procedures are FDA-approved.

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Nonthrombotic Iliac Vein Lesions (NIVL)

May–Thurner syndrome (MTS), also known as iliac vein compression syndrome, is a rare condition in which compression of the common venous outflow tract of the left lower extremity may cause discomfort, swelling, pain or blood clots, known as deep venous thrombosis (DVT), in the iliofemoral vein.  This condition may be effective diagnosed and treated at EndoVascular Health Services via minimally invasive therapeutic means.  Using Intravascular Ultrasound (IVUS) as a useful adjunct in the diagnosis and EndoVascular management of iliac vein compression syndrome, an iliac stent may be placed to correct the compression and open up the vessel, thereby showing significant improvement in symptomatic pain and swelling.