Does vein disease affect women and men equally?
More than half of all women will develop varicose vein disease over the course of their lifetime. However 40-45 percent of all men will develop it as well. The unique hormonal conditions that women face, such as pregnancy and menopause, often cause their veins to become worse. This is likely why we see more women than men seek treatment for their condition
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What causes varicose veins?

What are spider veins?

Spider veins are very small varicose veins. Although they don’t usually cause discomfort, the deeper veins that often accompany them do. Many vein disease sufferers have a combination of both varicose and spider veins. While they may seek treatment for cosmetic improvement, many of our patients are looking for relief from pain.

What are varicose veins?
Varicose veins happen when small valves in veins break and cause the blood in them to flow in the wrong direction. This causes the veins to swell and backfill with stagnant blood. Many times varicose veins appear as either bulging and ropelike, or small and threadlike. However, they can also appear deep under your skin, where you are not able to see them. Varicose veins can cause aching, tired and swollen legs; create a burning, throbbing, or itching sensation; and cause muscle cramps and a general restlessness in your legs. Varicose veins require medical treatment.

What is sclerotherapy?
During sclerotherapy a solution is injected into your varicose or spider veins. This closes the abnormal vein and seals it off from the other healthy veins in your leg. The vein shrinks over time and is eventually absorbed. A typical treatment session may last for 15 to 20 minutes and will consist of several microinjections. Depending on where the vein is located, this procedure is done with and without ultrasound guidance. The  Center for Interventional Medicine only uses FDA approved medications for sclerotherapy.

What is the VNUS Closure procedure?
The VNUS Closure procedure, also known as endovenous radiofrequency (RF) vein ablation, is considered the most effective long term treatment for venous reflux disease and the varicose veins and other symptoms like leg pain and swelling that are due to venous reflux disease. This procedure is performed by a board certified physician with specific expertise in minimally invasive procedures.

How is the VNUS Closure procedure performed?
This procedure is done on an outpatient basis. Your physician may use a topical anesthetic cream or spray over the abnormal vein area before the procedure. The leg being treated will be cleaned, sterilized and covered with a surgical drape. The physician will then numb the area where the catheter will enter into the abnormal vein with local anesthetic. Using ultrasound guidance, the catheter is inserted through the skin into the vein and positioned within the upper portion of the abnormal vein, which is usually in the upper thigh. Additional local anesthetic is then injected along the entire length of the abnormal vein that contains the catheter. The system is turned on, and radiofrequency energy is released from the cathteter as the catheter is slowly withdrawn.
The opening in the skin is covered with a bandage. No sutures are needed. The entire procedure takes about 30 minutes.

What happens to my vein after it has been treated?
The treated vein is closed off from the rest of the veins in your leg, allowing the body to naturally redirect the blood flow to healthy veins.

Don’t I need all of my veins?
Varicose veins are a burden on your circulation. Because the blood inside them is traveling in the wrong direction (an abnormality called venous reflux disease), eliminating the venous reflux will improve your circulation by providing improved drainage of blood out of the legs. In treating varicose veins, we focus only on the diseased veins and safeguard the healthy veins for normal circulation. Ultrasound guidance ensures that treatment is highly selective.

Will I need to be hospitalized or take time off from work after treatment?
Treatment is on an outpatient basis during convenient office visits. You can resume most of your day-to-day activities shortly after each session. In fact, we encourage our patients to walk immediately after the procedure, to prevent formation of blood clots. Most of our patients return to work the next day.

What are the limitations of the VNUS Closure Procedure?
Sometimes, the VNUS Closure catheter cannot be easily passed through a tortuous vein, or a vessel with many turns and bends.

Endovenous ablation is successful at closing the abnormal target vein almost 100 percent of the time, but small dilated branches that persist in the skin often require additional treatment with phlebectomy (minor surgical procedure to extract them) or sclerotherapy (injection of a liquid medication to seal them off).

Subsequent treatments are usually scheduled after an ablation procedure.

Is vein treatment covered by insurance?
Varicose vein treatment is often covered by insurance. In fact, Center for Interventional Medicine is in network with most major insurance plans. We will work hard with you to maximize your insurance benefits.

What is an Interventional Radologist?
Interventional radiologists are board-certified physicians who specialize in minimally invasive, targeted treatments. They offer the most in-depth knowledge of the least invasive treatments available coupled with diagnostic and clinical experience across all specialties. They use X-rays, ultrasound, and other imaging to advance a catheter in the body, usually in a blood vessel such as a vein, to provide treatment right at the source of the disease non-surgically. As the inventors of angioplasty and the catheter-delivered stent, which were first used in the legs to treat peripheral arterial disease, interventional radiologists pioneered minimally invasive modern medicine.

Today many conditions that once required surgery can be treated nonsurgically by interventional radiologists. Interventional radiology treatments offer less risk, less pain and less recovery time compared to open surgery.

Because of their unique background and training, interventional radiologists are ideally suited to provide the minimally invasive treatments that are available for varicose veins and venous reflux disease.

For more information, please visit:  www.sirweb.org.