Chronic Venous Insufficiency
What is Chronic Venous Insufficiency?
Chronic venous insufficiency occurs when your leg veins don’t allow blood to flow back up to your heart. Normally, the valves in your veins make sure that blood flows toward your heart. But when these valves don’t work well, blood can also flow backwards. This can cause blood to collect (pool) in your legs.
Chronic venous insufficiency is not a serious health threat, but it can be painful and disabling. It is a common condition that affects women more than men. More than 80 million Americans suffer from the effects of chronic venous insufficiency.
What are the Symptoms of Chronic Venous Insufficiency?
- Swelling in the legs or ankles
- Varicose or spider veins
- Tight feeling in the calves
- Itchy or painful legs
- Brown-colored skin near the ankles
- Enlarged (varicose) veins
- Open sores on the legs
- Urge to move your legs (restless legs syndrome)
- Leg cramps or muscle spasms
What Causes Chronic Venous Insufficiency?
You are more at risk for chronic venous insufficiency if you are overweight, pregnant, have a family history of it, or have had damage to your legs. Additional causes include:
- High blood pressure in the leg veins, due to sitting or standing for long periods of time
- Lack of exercise
- Smoking
- A blood clot in a deep vein, often in the calf or thigh (deep vein thrombosis)
- Inflammation of a vein close to the skin, often in the legs
What is Chronic Venous Insufficiency?
President Donald Trump's diagnosis of chronic venous insufficiency, or CVI, shines a spotlight on a common condition for aging adults. What is the condition and how is it treated?
UR Medicine's Treatments for Chronic Venous Insufficiency
At the UR Medicine Heart & Vascular Center, our highly trained and board-certified vascular specialists provide patients with comprehensive care and state-of-the-art treatment options for chronic venous insufficiency.
How is Chronic Venous Insufficiency Diagnosed?
Your healthcare provider will take your health history and give you an exam. You may also have an imaging test called a Duplex ultrasound. This looks at blood flow and the structure of your leg veins. It checks the speed and direction of blood flow in the blood vessel.
Screening for chronic venous insufficiency is performed on site in our ICAVL accredited vascular laboratory. This noninvasive imaging is pain-free, quick, and covered by insurance.
What Are The Treatments For Chronic Venous Insufficiency?
Treatment can sometimes correct the disease process, and for others, treatment can help with management. Treatment options vary, but may include:
- Activity to improve blood flow in your legs and exercising regularly.
- Medications
- Sclerotherapy – an injection that causes scarring in the affected veins
- Endovenous laser ablation or radiofrequency ablation (RFA) – improving blood flow through a minimally invasive procedure
- Ligation surgery – tying off the affected vein
- Vein stripping – removing the damaged vein
How Long Does Recovery Take?
Current medical treatments are mostly office-based, minimally invasive, performed with local anesthesia, and are quick. Most people are back to full activity the next day.
Can Compression Socks Help with Chronic Venous Insufficiency?
Yes. Compression socks can help prevent and treat vein issues in the legs. It is important to see a medical professional to be sized correctly for compression socks. They are tightest at the ankle, helping to keep blood from settling in the lowest parts of the leg.
What Sets Us Apart?
The Heart & Vascular Center at UR Medicine has more office-abased treatment options for the treatment of chronic venous disease than any other center in the Rochester metropolitan area and surrounding region. These frequently performed office-based techniques are safe, durable and relatively pain free. By providing the widest range of therapies, we can offer customized treatment options for each patient’s unique set of circumstances.
Several of our vascular specialists are nationally known for their expertise in the treatment of chronic venous insufficiency. In many cases, regional hospitals send their most complex cases to us. Our nationally funded basic science research laboratory is actively investigating the pathophysiology of chronic venous insufficiency.