(Joint article in Dr. Carlos Lisbona)
There are many venous diseases and, in recent years, much progress has been made in their respective treatments.
For many years, vein diseases have been trivialized, as well as their treatments, generally of high aggressiveness and poor results.
In recent decades, the angiology and vascular surgery team at the Laser Surgery Unit of the Teknon Medical Center in Barcelona and the Rey Don Jaime Hospital in CastellĂłn have been investigating new therapeutic methods in relation to venous disease.
Venous insufficiency
These are varicose veins of small or large size that alter the venous return flow due to valvular destruction, which hinders or prevents the return of blood to the heart. In the short or long term, these varicose veins can lead to serious complications, such as thrombosis, superficial bleeding and dark atrophy of the skin with recurrent ulcers.
-How they used to be treated: Until the year 2000, surgery consisted of either pulling out and removing the varicose veins, with the corresponding surgical aggressiveness that this required, the painful postoperative period and unaesthetic results, or less aggressive venous disconnection techniques but which did not solve the problem definitively.
-How they are treated nowadays: LASER SURGERY OF VARICOSE VEINS is currently used. By means of a beam of light conducted by optical fiber, varicose veins are eliminated without aggressiveness or tissue injury and with immediate recovery and excellent aesthetic results.
Unsightly varicose veins
Varicose veins are usually of small caliber, with or without cutaneous relief and spider veins due to dilation of the venous capillaries and almost always without venous insufficiency or other circulatory diseases.
-How they used to be treated: In the 1990s, only sclerosis of varicose veins was used, which consisted of an intravaricose injection of liquids or foams that dried the varicose veins and then destroyed and eliminated them from the body.
-How they are treated now: Sclerosis is still used, currently resolutive and painless is used for varicose veins of medium and small caliber along with the TRANSDERMIC CUTANEOUS LASER (neodymium-yag). Transdermal laser can also be used in spider veins or small varicose veins, or in people with intolerances or allergies. This system allows access to very small spider veins, thus reducing the number of sessions required and achieving a shorter time for the varicose vein to disappear.
Uterine varicose veins or pelvic congestion syndrome
Popularly known as “varicose veins of the womb”, as varicose veins appear in the internal genital organs, such as the uterus or ovaries, due to the inability of the veins to recover their normal size after one or more pregnancies. The symptoms are usually painful, abundant menstruation with alterations in periodicity, vulvar varicose veins and hemorrhoids, varicose veins in legs of development and atypical characteristics, such as low back pain, chronic perineal heaviness and even pain during or after sexual intercourse.
-How they used to be treated: In the old days they were treated with anti-inflammatories and venotonics that only relieved the discomfort but did not solve the problem. Surgical treatment in more severe cases involved removing the uterus by classic surgery or ligation by laparoscopic surgery of the birth of the venous insufficiency.
-How they are treated now: Currently there is still a high percentage that are neither diagnosed nor treated, which condemns women to suffer from a completely curable problem. More than twelve years ago the technique of venous catheterization was introduced in the radiology room (and not in the operating room). It is performed with a small infiltration of local cutaneous anesthesia, blocking and closing from the inside all dilated veins, varicose veins of the womb and ovaries on both sides, eliminating the flow and ceasing the pressure they are subjected to. The improvement or disappearance of pelvic congestion syndrome with this technique is over 90%.