Super-heating new treatment for varicose veins
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| Dr. Christopher Kinter, assistant clinical instructor of surgery for UCSF Fresno, spoke about varicose vein treatment at Fresno Heart & Surgical Hospital's fall community education series. |
“Arteries and veins are totally different,” says Dr. Kinter, an assistant clinical instructor of surgery for UCSF Fresno Medical Education Program. “Both carry blood flow, but they’re light years apart in function, like the liver and the heart … Arteries act as a river and veins act as a river delta with many avenues.”
And it’s because of this river-delta structure and the slow flow of blood through veins that they sometimes clog up or balloon out in places. But the delta structure of veins with many paths that lead back to the heart also makes it easier to fix bulging, varicose veins by pruning, explains Dr. Kinter.
Dr. Kinter spoke recently at Fresno Heart & Surgical Hospital’s fall community education series. Besides describing artery and vein structures, he detailed risk factors for vein disorders and how to treat them.
Traditionally, veins that don’t work well and balloon out are treated by removing them, either by making an incision and pulling them out, injecting something to make the veins scar down and eventually go away, or by burning them out with laser therapy.
Dr. Kinter is excited about a new technology that uses radio frequencies, much like those in a microwave oven, to destroy a problematic vein by super-heating it from the inside with a tiny catheter device.
Dr. Kinter describes the VNUS ClosureFAST radio frequency catheter and how it works: “We use an ultrasound to locate the vein and make a tiny incision and insert the catheter in the vein. We inject anesthetic up and down the vein to numb it and then we pull the catheter down through the vein and it scars it down by heating it to about 200 degrees centigrade until it becomes a small, hardened fibrous tissue.”
This treatment requires a much smaller incision, a local anesthetic rather than a general, is a relatively quick outpatient process and allows patients to walk away from the procedure and resume everyday activities within a day or two afterwards. “You get a good cosmetic outcome with minimal or no scarring, bruising or swelling afterwards,” Kinter says. It also has less risk or complications, he adds.
It sounds counter-intuitive to take out veins to make surrounding veins work better, admits Dr. Kinter. “But think of it as eight guys carrying rocks up a hill with two others throwing rocks back down. Take those two guys out and the eight guys get more efficient. It’s the same way with veins.”
Dr. Kinter says leaky and ballooning veins that have valves that don’t work well are more than just unsightly, they also can be painful, causing redness and hardening of the skin that can be permanent or lead to ulcers. Kinter says women are particularly at risk of having problematic veins because of pregnancy, but other risk factors include obesity and injury.
This story was reported by Erin Kennedy. She can be reached at ekennedy@communitymedical.org.