| Newsletter Fall 2004
<%@LANGUAGE="JAVASCRIPT" CODEPAGE="1252"%>
Fall 2004
New Varicose Vein Treatment
Varicose veins are an unwanted legacy that tends to run in families. The condition associated with varicose veins is called superficial venous reflux - a condition caused by leaky valves. Didn't know you had valves in your legs? Most people don't, until the valves fall down on the job.
Legs are made up of a network of veins and vessels whose job is to transport blood back up to the heart. There are two principal systems of veins in the legs - the deep veins, which are located within the muscles and carry about 90 percent of the blood, and the superficial veins, or saphenous veins. The great saphenous vein, the larger of the two, is the principal vein that run up the leg just below the surface of the skin.
Here's where the valves come in. As circulating blood travels back up through the veins on its journey to the heart, one-way valves prevent blood from draining back down the leg under the force of gravity, like the watertight flood-control doors on a ship.
These valves have a huge job to do. When they become damaged or diseased, they no longer block the backward flow of blood (reflux) down the vein. When blood flows back down the vein, it pools in the leg veins. This pooling of blood creates varicose veins.
"The greater saphenous vein is the biggest superficial vein in the leg, and it runs from the groin through the inside of the leg to the inside of the ankle," says WVMC's newest vascular surgeon William Tung, M.D. "There are a lot of branches that come off the vein. If the valves don't work, not only does the blood pool in the greater saphenous vein, but the branches that come off of it can get filled as well."
Risk factors for varicose veins include age, family history, female gender, and pregnancy. Obesity can also be a risk, as well as having a profession where you stand a lot.
Meet Mindy Sangster, the pretty, young mother of five-year-old Jacob and two-year-old Madison. "After I had my two kids, I had varicose veins," says Mindy. "They were painful. I couldn't stand up all day and work."
Varicose veins run in Mindy's family -- her mother has them also, and after her two pregnancies Mindy developed them as well. She went to her dermatologist seeking solutions. She was referred to Milton Brinton, M.D., a vascular surgeon who has practiced in Wenatchee for twenty-one years.
"When I was being trained," recalls Dr. Brinton, "we used to literally pull the vein out. It caused a lot of pain and swelling. But it was very effective, and treated the problem. Is there a better way to do it, now? Yes, there is a better way."
The better way is called The Closure Procedure, also known as vein ablation. It's a minimally invasive treatment that requires only a small incision or skin puncture on the leg. A catheter about the size of a spaghetti strand is inserted into the greater saphenous vein. The catheter emits energy - either laser or microwave generated energy. The energy creates heat, so the vein is heated from inside, causing it to collapse. The catheter is slowly withdrawn, closing the vein from within. The procedure results in minimal to no scarring,<
| 
