New Treatment for Varicose Veins

Oh, varicose veins. No one likes them and everyone hopes to never get them. Unfortunately, sometimes we do. Over 30 million Americans suffer from varicose veins and I suspect I may be one of them someday.

The reason?
I constantly cross my legs. That seems to be one of the things you should not do if you wish to avoid them.

Thinking about varicose veins made me wonder what sorts of treatments are out there, particularly the ones that doctors perform.

I found there to be are two major ones: ligation or stripping (veins removed through surgery) or ablation (noninvasive technique using laser energy)

There was a study done to compare the effectiveness of both techniques. 346 adults, average age around 48, were randomly assigned to have one procedure or the other. The tracked the results two years later to see how effective they were in eliminating all veins. Differences were noted between the two treatments.

23% of those that had the invasive surgery saw a reoccurrence of varicose veins. 16% of those that had the laser treatment saw a reoccurrence in varicose veins.

However, these two treatments do hurt and cause the patient to be out of basic activities for 4-5 days. They can’t even return to work for 10-12 days.

This made me wonder if there was something new out there…that had a quicker recovery time.

Well, apparently there is. A technique developed by Dr. Dvora Nelson.  It’s called the ClosureFast procedure and it allows the patients to return to normal activity that very same day. Some patients are even calling it a “lunch break” surgery.

How it works

A radio-frequency fiber is placed in the vein and moved all the way up to the groin. Radiofrequency energy is then used to destroy the lining of the vein. This tricks the body into thinking the vein is dead and it converts it into a dysfunctional vein. Blood will no longer flow through that vein; it will be re-routed to another normal vein and back to the heart to complete its cycle.

Besides being able to recover on the same day of their surgery patients do not have to worry about shelling their cash. It’s not a cosmetic procedure, so it is covered by most health plans.

Does this seem too good to be true?

Patient Cynthia McCarthy doesn’t seem to think so. She had a friend who had a more invasive procedure and she was off her feet for a few days. After the ClosureFast, McCarthy said she felt no pain.

What do you think? Is this a revolutionary procedure?

Sources:

http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/news/health/new-innovative-procedure-helps-varicose-veins-nearly-disappear-forever-in-just-minutes
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/treatments-for-varicose-veins-show-few-differences-in-comparative-study/2011/10/19/gIQAwXU2CM_story.html
http://nelson-vein.com/vnus-rf.html
http://www2.nbc17.com/news/2011/nov/10/triangle-doctor-treating-varicose-veins-without-su-ar-1595264/

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