Venous Reflux Disease

Venous reflux is a progressive medical condition and if left untreated, may worsen over time and develop into a more serious form of venous disease called chronic venous insufficiency.

Chronic Venous Insufficiency occurs when your leg veins do not allow blood to flow back up to your heart from your legs. Normally, the valves in your veins make sure the blood actually flows toward your heart. But when these valves don’t work well, blood can actually flow backwards. This can cause the blood to collect (pool ) in your lower leg veins.

Chronic Venous Insufficiency

If venous reflux is left untreated, it may worsen and over time and develop into a serious issue of venous disease called Chronic venous Insufficiency (CVI).  It can cause uncomfortable symptoms:

• • Varicose Veins
  • Aching or pain in the legs
  • Swelling
  • Leg Cramps
  • Heavy or tired legs
  • Itching
  • Restlessness legs
  • Skin Changes or discoloration
  • Ulcers or open sores

If CVI is left untreated, legs can sometimes develop painful sores or wounds on the skin’s surface called ulcers. Normally ulcers appear near the ankles or lower leg and are brought on from the increased build-up of fluid and blood pressure from veins affected by CVI.

Venous Leg Ulcers

The cause of venous ulcers is high pressure in the veins of the lower leg. The veins have one-way valves that keep blood flowing up toward your heart. When these valves become weak or the veins become scarred and blocked, blood can flow backward and pool in your legs. This is called venous insufficiency. This leads to high pressure in the lower leg veins. The increase in pressure and buildup of fluid prevents nutrients and oxygen from getting to tissues. The lack of nutrients causes cells to die, damaging the tissue, and a wound can form.

Spider Veins

Spider veins are smalls veins that can range in many sizes. These are damaged veins that can appear on the surface of the legs or face. They usually do not cause pain or cause harm, but some people have had them rupture and bleed due to the pressure that is behind them. Spider veins can have a blue, purple, or red look to them and may appear as thin lines, web-like
or branches. Sclerotherapy is usually the most common treatment for this condition. 

Varicose Veins

Varicose veins are often misunderstood as simply a cosmetic issue, but when left untreated, they can progress into a more serious condition called chronic venous insufficiency.  Veins are thin walled structures that will enlarge with pressure when valves keep the blood flowing in the wrong direction.

Venous Stasis

Venous stasis dermatitis happens when there is a significant problem with the backwards flow with the veins. This keeps the blood from moving out of your lower legs.  As more fluid (blood) and pressure build up, some of the blood leaks out of the veins and into your skin staining it over time. When this is severe enough the skin is more susceptible to ulceration and slow healing wounds due to the lack of oxygenated blood to the area.

Deep Vein Thrombosis

Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) is a medical condition that occur when a blood clot (thrombosis) forms in the deep vein system. This can cause leg pain and swelling and redness but can also appear with no symptoms. There is a higher risk of a DVT when you fly in a airplane or have other certain medical conditions that affect on how your blood clots. A Venous Ultrasound is usually used to Diagnose if a DVT is present.

Post-Thrombotic Syndrome

DVT can damage veins, which can lead to symptoms such as chronic swelling and pain. People may not suffer from symptoms of post-thrombotic syndrome until years after DVT.

Lymphedema

In a word, swelling. Extra fluid builds up in your tissue when your lymphatic system isn’t working well, usually because your lymph nodes were damaged or removed. It’s often a side effect of cancer treatment and can show up years later. Trauma to the area can also cause this to occur.. Compression therapy and pneumatic compression is the primary plan of treatment.

Deep Venous Reflux

This is diagnosed first with a Venous Ultrasound. The Ultrasound will show that there is backing up of blood or reflux seen in the deep veins. This could be due to the severe superficial reflux that is seen or there may be a underlying deeper issue that could be causing a outflow obstruction from the blood getting out of the legs and returning to the heart. Further testing would be done to evaluate and treat the deep reflux issues.

Pelvic Congestion Syndrome

Pelvic congestion syndrome (PCS) is a common cause of chronic pelvic pain in women of reproductive age. Pain that is intermittent or constant lasting for months, present in the pelvic or abdominal region, occurring throughout the menstrual cycle. Basically it’s a multitude of varicose veins that are on and around the ovaries. This can be diagnosed and treated in an outpatient setting in vascular This activity outlines the evaluation and management of pelvic congestion syndrome and highlights the role of the interpro aim to creatfessional team in the care of patients with this condition.