Vascular Surgery

Vascular surgery is the treatment of the blood vessels: arteries and veins (excluding the heart or the brain). Vascular surgery involves techniques to opens obstructions and provides blood flow to different organs.

Venous Disease

Healthy veins have leaflet valves that close to prevent blood from flowing backwards to the heart. In diseased veins, the valve does not close properly (valvular incompetence). This allows blood to flow backwards and they get inflamed and enlarged due to elevated venous pressure. This condition is referred to venous reflux disease / stasis disease.

Symptoms

Venous reflux disease / stasis disease leads to symptoms, such as:

• Varicose Veins
• Sores or Ulcers

Varicose veins are veins commonly refers to the veins on the leg that have become enlarged and twisted. Varicose veins in the legs are a cosmetic problem as well as they cause swelling, discomfort and pain especially when standing.

Sores / Ulcers is the break in the leg skin, which allows air and bacteria to enter into the underlying tissue caused by venous reflux disease.

If the disease does not get treated, symptoms persist and can get worse over time.

Contributing Factors

Many factors contribute to venous reflux disease, including age, gender, family history, heavy lifting, multiple pregnancies, obesity, prolonged standing or sitting and lack of exercise.

Treatment Options

Non-surgical treatments: sclerotherapy, elastic stockings, compression bandaging, leg elevation and exercise

Surgical treatments: Using minimally invasive, advanced technologies, the surgeon inserts a tiny catheter into the diseased vein through a small hole in the skin. Through the energy delivered to the catheter powered by radio-frequency (RF) or laser, the vein’s wall gets heated and shrinks. Once the diseased vein is closed the blood flows through healthy veins.

This procedure is done on an outpatient basis and the patient resumes normal life activity with few days of this procedure.

Venous System Anatomy

The venous system compromises of:

• Superficial Veins
• Deep Veins
• Perforated veins