Vein Treatments
The venous system in the lower extremity is composed of the deep and superficial veins connected with each other via multiple communicating or perforator veins. The deep veins are the principal vessels which are responsible for delivering the blood back to the heart from the legs. The superficial veins consist of two major trunks called the long and short saphenous veins. All the superficial veins big and small eventually drain into the deep veins, either through perforators or through their main saphenous trunks at the groin or the back of the knee. The deep veins are fairly stable but superficial veins exhibit a great variety of permutations of their anatomy so that no two legs are the same. The advent of ultrasound scanning technology has accelerated our understanding of venous disease and revolutionized the treatment of varicose veins by allowing the visualization and treatment of the diseased vein segments at the source.
At The Vein & Laser Clinic, every patient presenting with ropy varicose veins undergoes an in-depth assessment of the circulation with particular emphasis on the venous system of the lower extremities, following which a treatment plan is discussed with the patient. The investigations undertaken may consist of a screening auscultation with a hand-held bidirectional doppler, which can quickly determine if the major trunks or the deep veins are affected. Further studies with real time duplex imaging as well as colour doppler are then used to 'map" the whole system of diseased veins, including their source, which is usually found in defective veins at the junction between the deep and superficial venous systems.
An individual may present with different types of vessels forming a complex network of varicose vein segments and several procedures are presently available to address the varicose veins at different levels. Surgery, endo-venous laser ( EVLT ) and sclerotherapy are not antagonistic to each other but are complimentary options that may be combined, depending on the pattern of varicosities exhibited in a particular patient.