What is chronic venous insufficiency?

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1. What is chronic venous insufficiency?

Chronic venous insufficiency is a condition that occurs when the veins lose their ability to return blood to the heart due to impaired function of the venous valves of the superficial and/or deep venous systems.
The disease is common in the lower extremities, occurring in about 10 to 35% of adults. The disease usually progresses slowly, is not aggressive, is less life-threatening but interferes much with daily life and work, patients often have to have long-term treatment and expensive treatment, especially when In the late stages, there are serious complications.

2. Causes of chronic venous insufficiency

The cause of chronic venous insufficiency is still unclear. However, based on clinical experience, it has also been established that this disease is associated with several risk factors for varicose veins caused by dysfunction of the one-way valves of the peripheral venous system. These valves are damaged due to a number of factors such as:
Older people (over 50 years old) often decrease the level of elasticity of the vessel walls. There are family factors, a family history of varicose veins. Due to work must stand or sit a lot, sedentary. Overweight, obesity. Wear clothes that are too tight. Wear high heels often. Women who have had multiple pregnancies, gain a lot of weight during pregnancy, and use birth control pills for a long time. The disease is 3 times more common in women than in men.

3. Symptoms of chronic venous insufficiency

Some common symptoms when patients have varicose veins such as: Varicose veins, itching, hyperpigmentation in the skin, lymphedema due to phlebitis, chronic edema of the legs and ankles, ulcers varicose veins in the legs, pain when standing and less pain when raising the leg, cramps, pain, throbbing, feeling of heaviness in the legs, weakness in the legs, thickened skin of the legs or ankles, skin discoloration, especially around the ankle, tight feeling in the calf, prominent veins can be seen clearly with the naked eye...

4. Complications of varicose veins

Varicose veins are not life-threatening, mainly causing discomfort, pain, loss of aesthetics and hindering the patient's daily activities.
However, the above complications are the result of the formation of blood clots in the veins. These clots have the potential to block blood vessels locally or travel with the blood stream and cause embolism elsewhere in the body. The most dangerous when these blood clots travel to the lungs cause pulmonary embolism, which can lead to respiratory failure and a very high risk of death. There are three complications that patients with varicose veins of the legs may encounter if they do not adhere to the correct treatment prescribed by the treating doctor, including:
Thrombosis (blood clot). Hemorrhage (bleeding). Foot ulcers, this is a very difficult complication to treat.

5. Treatment of chronic venous insufficiency

Currently, there are many treatment methods to control or stop reflux, eliminate the risk of reflux of blood from the branch veins and from the vessels of the venous system, and finally prevent the overflow of the interstitial tissue due to fluid seepage from the microtubules.
Keep your legs high when resting, practice stronger muscles, avoid standing or sitting for a long time, wear elastic stockings or wrap your legs with elastic bandages, orthopedic cases of leg deformities, avoid obesity, practice deep breathing, High fiber diet to avoid constipation,... Compression bandages restore the pressure difference between the two superficial and deep venous systems through the perforation of the veins, reducing the diameter of the venous lumen for the purpose of Increases mobility at rest as well as during exertion. Medical treatment by using drugs that have the effect of stabilizing the venous walls such as Daflon, Rutin C, Veinamitol,... Treatment without heat, without anesthesia includes mechanical intervention and injections. fiber. The method of mechanical intervention is to use the ClariVein instrument with a catheter with a wire protruding at the tip of the tube that rotates at high speed to mechanically injure the endovascular and cause vasoconstriction when the catheter is removed simultaneously with the catheter. continuous sclerotherapy pump. The method of injection causes local fibrosis by using drugs that cause fibrosis of the blood vessel lumen. Surgery with two main methods: Stripping method that allows to withdraw the weakened veins and ligation of the venous loops and Phlebectomy method to remove the dilated veins, this is a quite radical treatment method and has a recurrence rate. The lowest should be commonly chosen by the patient. Heat treatment includes two methods: using high-frequency waves and using an intravenous laser. Currently, people also apply the method of closing the vein with bio-adhesive scissors, which is a treatment method that does not use heat, anesthesia, or sclerotherapy. The advantage of this method is that it is safe and highly effective, there is no need to apply compression bandages after the end of the procedure, there are no scars or heat-induced skin tan, and the patient feels less pain compared to other methods. other surgical and interventional methods. To treat a chronic condition, the success of treatment depends on many aspects involved. The most important in which, in addition to accurate diagnosis and effective treatment, also depends on the patient's understanding of the disease condition and the degree of adherence to treatment methods as well as disease prevention issues. Occur again periodically.
The recurrence rate of varicose veins is quite high, up to 30%. The main causes are due to:
Patients do not strictly follow the regulations during treatment such as not using the medicine at the prescribed time. Patients refuse to wear specialized elastic stockings for varicose veins because they cause discomfort and entanglement in daily activities. There is no scientific working regime and a diet rich in fiber and low in starch. increased risk of obesity. Do not participate in regular sports activities to lose weight and increase blood circulation.

6. How to prevent varicose veins

Venous insufficiency is a social disease, the disease greatly affects the patient's diet and daily work. Therefore, the general recommendation to prevent this disease is a habit to avoid standing for a long time, sitting most are office workers, workers, should not sit and work continuously during the working session. take a few minutes break during the 30 to 60 minute work period. While working, you can combine leg exercises to improve blood circulation. Eat lots of vegetables, fiber, vitamins. You should exercise regularly to lose weight such as walking at a brisk pace, swimming, cycling, and stretching.
To slow down the progression of the disease, it is necessary to eliminate harmful habits in daily life. If the disease is mild, it can be treated with interventional therapy to relieve the patient's symptoms by using drugs to increase venous tone, combined with wearing special elastic stockings for patients with varicose veins. The purpose of the vessel is to put pressure on the vein wall to prevent blood from flowing backwards.
If the disease is already in a severe stage causing a lot of pain to the patient, the veins are prominent with many varicose veins, it may be necessary to surgically remove some of the veins in the legs.
Above is some basic information related to chronic venous insufficiency. The early recognition of signs of the disease is to help patients be diagnosed and treated early, reducing the risk of severe disease progression, affecting the patient's quality of life.

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