IVUS is an intravascular ultrasound, inside the vessels, which allows a clear view of the iliac vein, making hemorrhoid surgery painless. Dr. Guilleuma, an expert in Angiology and Vascular Surgery, talks about this treatment.
How hemorrhoids are affected
Hemorrhoids is one of the most prevalent diseases in society, it is estimated that between one and five out of every ten people have suffered from hemorrhoids in their lifetime. Due to this rate, it is important to maintain local hygienic measures, diet rich in fiber, local emulsions and pharmacological treatments with venotonics as prophylaxis of hemorrhoidal disease.
There are three groups of hemorrhoids according to their anatomy, the upper, middle and lower. The superior drains into the portal system and the inferior into the internal iliac vein. The group of the middle hemorrhoidal veins simply communicates the previous groups, but the flow is exclusively in the direction from the upper to the lower group.
Treatment for hemorrhoids
There are different surgical techniques to treat hemorrhoids, which can be more or less aggressive in the removal, as well as more or less interventionist. The problem is that all these interventions directly affect the hemorrhoids, but not their cause. This makes the treatments uncomfortable and painful for the patient, since all of them, in one way or another, aim to destroy the hemorrhoids.
IVUS treatment for hemorrhoids
The IVUS technique allows the identification of obstructions to the flow in the common iliac vein, superior to other imaging techniques such as phlebography, AngioCT, AngioRMN or conventional ultrasound.
This treatment was initially applied to special varicose veins, which led to think that the same could be applied to hemorrhoids. This pathology has always been considered a strictly anal problem, but the change of concept towards special varicose veins due to its drainage towards the iliac vein has allowed a new approach in its treatment, considering it a problem of the circulation.
This technique directly attacks the cause of the hemorrhoids and not their consequence, so they do not have to be touched, which means that the technique is completely painless, being also the only technique that does not destroy anything, but rebuilds what is malfunctioning. The process lasts between two and three hours, but the patient is discharged immediately and is assured that he or she will not suffer from the problem again.