Varicose Veins and Chronic Venous Insufficiency - A Current Review

Venous insufficiency syndromes allow venous blood to escape from its normal flow path and flow in a retrograde direction down into an already congested leg. Mild forms of venous insufficiency are often asymptomatic or uncomfortable, and cosmetically disfiguring, but severe venous disease can produce severe systemic consequences and can lead to severe morbidity. Mild symptoms include aching or throbbing pain, edema on dependency and “restless legs.” Later chronic venous insufficiency leads to cutaneous and soft tissue breakdown leading to non healing ulcers. Endovenous laser therapy is a thermal ablation technique that uses a laser fiber placed inside the vein to destroy the vascular endothelium. RF ablation is a thermal ablation technique that uses a specially developed proprietary RF catheter placed inside the vein to heat the vessel wall and surrounding tissues. This tissue heating causes protein denaturation, collagenous contraction, and immediate closure of the vessel