“You know that the heart pumps blood towards extremities using the arteries and that veins are the ones bringing back to the heart the blood with the help of the calf muscles and breathing.This
happens many times during every hour of our life! Ultrasound is an excellent tool for diagnosing Chronic venous insufficiency,varicose veins mainly and it is used during the treatment of varicose veins and in following up patients that had treatments done too.Many patients are asking us “what are you looking for when doing the ultrasound” or “How can you see if I have varicose veins?” It is simple ,but very high tech!
When you are coming to have an examination at TCVL the technologist will ask you to stand on a stool while he/she will perform the ultrasound.This way we accurately evaluate the movement of the blood from your feet towards your heart, against gravity and we can see if the valves inside the veins are properly closing to propulsate the blood upward.Your legs will be checked for the deep and superficial veins,and for for any blood clots.in deep or superficial system.
The veins are evaluated from groin to the feet checking diameter and the flow for reflux. When reflux is found it means that the blood is going into the wrong direction(towards your feet and not towards your heart)This means the valves inside the veins that suppose to hold the blood from going back to the feet , they are not doing the job;they won’t hold the blood and the blood will pool towards the feet.We can visualize this under the ultrasound using the Doppler which can show by color the direction of the blood.
During a procedure to ablate a vein that is not working properly the doctor also uses ultrasound technology. After procedures for varicose veins we can follow up with the vascular ultrasound in order to confirm that there are no complications (blood clots) and that the vein treated is correctly closed. In time with the help of the ultrasound we can visualize the ablated vein that the body is absorbed and looks like a string.
In many cases when we diagnose, treat or follow up patients with vein disease, ultrasound is like having eyes inside your body! It is a true evolution !The images of the vascular ultrasound are carefully stored and read by our vascular doctor, the studies are typed and results are faxed to your attending doctor that orders it.”
– Laura Gainariu, Director of Operations