What are venous diseases?
Venous diseases are conditions in which the tubes that return blood to the heart (veins) have a negative alteration. These alterations can be an obstruction to the blood flow due to internal thrombi or external compression, blood reflux to the legs or to vein lesions.
Venous diseases are so common that they represent a public health problem.
What are the venous diseases symptoms?
The symptoms vary and may be due to other medical conditions. Burning, itching, heaviness, tiredness, pain, itching in the legs, swelling, inflammation, varicose veins and even ulcers can appear.
Who is at risk of having venous diseases?
The most important risk factors are heredity, sedentary lifestyle, obesity, hormonal changes, age, and inappropriate habits such as standing for a long time.
How are venous diseases diagnosed?
The main thing is the physical examination, later non-invasive tests such as Doppler ultrasound, CT scan, or MRI can be performed.
Other more complex and invasive diagnostic methods include venography, which consists of injecting a contrast agent into the veins to visualize them with fluoroscopy (X-rays); intravenous ultrasound, which consists of introducing a very small ultrasound probe to a vein and exploring the venous system from the inside.
What are the venous diseases’ treatments?
Treatments depend on the stage and type of venous disease.
The most common consist of sclerotherapy, in which substances are injected into the veins to close them, vein resection with mini-incisions, traditional surgery such as saphenectomy, or minimally invasive endovascular surgery with laser or radiofrequency.
Other less common and more complex methods consist of clot dissolution, balloon dilation of occluded or compressed veins, placement of stents within the veins, etc.
The most common venous disorders are:
- Varicose veins.
- Chronic venous insufficiency
- Venous stasis ulcers
- Deep vein thrombosis
- Pulmonary thromboembolism
- Venous vascular trauma
- Mesenteric venous thrombosis
- Obstructive venous syndrome (Nutcracker / May-Thurner)
At ABC Medical Center’s Cardiovascular Center, we can provide you with specialized care. Contact us!
Fuente:
Dr. Claudio Alberto Ramírez Cerda – Vascular and Endovascular Surgery specialist at ABC Medical Center.
