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Treating Varicose Veins Pittsfield, Massachusetts (MA) - Berkshire Health Systems
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Health Take-Away

Health Take-Away

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  • Staying Healthy in the Office
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  • Breast Cancer Awareness: Mammograms Save Lives
  • Antibiotic Resistance
  • Lung Cancer Screening
  • Giving Thanks
  • Healthy Holidays
  • Alcohol's Impact on Breast Cancer Risk
  • Acupuncture Can Help with Relief in Breast Cancer Care
  • Breast Reconstruction Surgery Journey is Personal
  • Building Your Immunity during COVID-19
  • Emotional Toll of COVID-19
  • COVID-19 Anti-Body Testing: What It Tells You What It Won't
  • Treating Varicose Veins
  • Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine: What is OMM
  • Know Your Audiology Options
  • Pets as Therapists
  • Reducing the Stigma of Substance Use Disorder
  • Be Kind to Your Heart
  • Headache Care
  • Managing Presenteeism
  • Don't Struggle with Resolutions
  • Enjoy the Holidays Through the Gift of Giving
  • Seasonal Affective Disorder
  • Save a Life, Lift Your Soul, Give Blood
  • Team Approach for Breast Cancer
  • Surviving Breast Cancer: A Journey
  • Hunger in the Berkshires
  • Vaccinations Help Avoid Needless Risks
  • Embrace Mindfulness
  • Low Carb High Fat Diet has Benefits
  • Probiotics Uses the Good Bugs to Fight the Bad Ones
  • Use the Power of Nature for Better Health
  • Unplug from Online for Better Health
  • Weight Loss Through Narrowing Your Eating Window
  • Mammography and Dense Breast Tissue
  • Medication-Assisted Treatment for Addiction Disorder
  • Smoker or Former Smoker? Lung Cancer Screening is Recommended for You
  • Be Safe When Using Over the Counter Medications
  • Screenings for Colon Cancer
  • Thyroid Health Essential to Metabolism
  • Go for Nutrition that is Heart Healthy
  • High Blood Pressure and Ways to Lower It
  • Hospitalists: Your Around the Clock Caregiver
  • Weight Loss Surgery Has Lasting Impact
  • Can you Find Joy in the Holidays When Sick?
  • Coping with Holiday Depression
  • When Quitting Smoking You May Need to Try and Try Again
  • Vaginal Birth after C-Section
  • New Tool to Assess Breast Cancer Risk
  • Migraines: How to Treat Them
  • Vestibular Care: It's All in Your Ears
  • Prepare for a Healthy Trip Abroad
  • New Moms Encouraged to Breast Feed
  • Language Diversity Important to Healthcare
  • Latest Advances in Joint Replacement
  • Vaping and Nicotine Addiction
  • Urgent Care or Emergency Department
  • Free Medicare Wellness Visit
  • Rehabilitation from Stroke Onset
  • Life Threatening Stroke Can be Prevented
  • Mammography and MRI for Women with High Risk of Breast Cancer
  • Breaking the Silence on Kidney Disease
  • Stop Mindless Eating
  • Hospitals Working to Improve Heart Health
  • Your Healthy Gut Bacteria
  • Give Up Smoking in 2018
  • Healthy Resolutions for 2018
  • Healthy Giving for 2017
  • Concussions: Myths and Truths
  • Celebrate a Thankful & Healthy Holiday
  • Don't Die of Embarrassment: Get Screened for Colon Cancer
  • Don't Let the Flu Get You This Season
  • Advanced Cardiac Imaging
  • Chronic Wound Care
  • What is a Hospitalist?
  • Healthy Heart Rhythms
  • Wellness Coaching
  • Men's Health In Crisis
  • Prevent Stroke or Respond FAST
  • Walking to Good Health
  • Healing Through Acupuncture
  • Self Care is Our Future
  • Family Wellness - Play Together Stay Healthy Together
  • Rewriting Your Book of Life
  • Pre-Diabetes: A Wake-Up Call for Better Health
  • Overcoming Crisis With Resiliency
  • Stepping Off the Slippery Slope
  • Sleep & Wellness: Learning to Cherish Your Sleep
  • Kicking the Habit and Ending the Fear
  • High Blood Pressure: One of the Few Things in Life We Can Control
  • Friendship is Powerful Medicine
  • It's Flu Season: Get the Vaccine!
  • The Healing Power of Gratitude
  • Where's the Joy?
  • New Year's Resolutions to Live By
  • Preventing Falls: A Leading Health Risk for the Older Population
  • Staying Healthy in the Office
  • Exercising at Home and Staying Fit in the Winter
  • Cardiac Rehabilitation: Regaining a Healthier and Better Life
  • Nutrition & Exercise: Two Great Gifts for Children
  • A Screening That Has Saved More than a Million Lives
  • How Walking Can Change Your Life
  • Injury-Free Sports & Activities
  • Have a Healthy Summer
  • Head to a Farmers' Market
  • Just Breathe
  • Lyme Disease Facts
  • Mindful Eating
  • Empathy in Healthcare
  • Preparing Your Family for an Emergency
  • Helping Someone to Cope with Opioid Addiction
  • Breast Cancer Awareness: Mammograms Save Lives
  • Antibiotic Resistance
  • Lung Cancer Screening
  • Giving Thanks
  • Healthy Holidays

Treating Varicose Veins

Minimally-invasive technologies take the dread out of varicose vein treatments
By Richard M. Basile, M.D.

Anyone who remembers a parent, grandparent or other relative suffering from varicose veins back in the 20th century might initially feel a sense of dread if they face the prospect of undergoing treatment themselves – until they hear about the dramatic advances in medical technology that have revolutionized the treatment of varicose veins over the past 20 years.

What was once usually a painful surgical procedure involving days of hospitalization and weeks of at-home recovery and lost work has been largely replaced by a growing selection of minimally-invasive, essentially pain-free, in-office procedures that have patients walking around immediately after their treatments and returning to work the next day.

The results of the new procedures, both medically and cosmetically, have been excellent. The old-style methods typically saw high rates of recurrence and often extensive scarring. Many people with varicose veins once shied away from having the procedure done because of the discomfort and recovery time involved. But today’s technologies have removed those fear barriers and taken varicose vein treatment to a whole new comfort level.

Varicose veins are bulging or swollen, twisted and enlarged veins – most commonly in the legs – visible under the skin, often red or blue in color. Normally, one-way valves in your leg veins keep blood moving toward the heart. When the valves don’t work properly, blood backs up into the vein, which swells from the buildup, causing varicose veins. Varicose veins affect more women than men. Family history, older age, obesity and pregnancy are among the risk factors for developing varicose veins. Though very common, varicose veins don’t cause major problems for many. However, if the flow of blood through the affected veins becomes worse, problems such as leg swelling and pain, bleeding, blood clots, venous ulcers and other skin conditions may occur.

The current-day methods for varicose vein treatment are guided by ultrasound technology and use various minimally-invasive technologies and procedures, including tiny fiber catheters, lasers and sealant solutions that close off problem veins and redirect blood flow through nearby healthy veins.  Vein specialists perform the procedures right in the office. Low doses of local anesthesia may be used; patients are fully awake throughout.  Most procedures take 60 minutes at most. 

The choice of procedures from a growing menu of options depends on the specific nature and extent of a patient’s vein condition, as well as the patient’s own preference.  A combination of different treatments often is used to deliver the best results. 

The most common varicose vein treatments today include the following:

Radiofrequency Ablation.  Radiofrequency or microwave energy – which generates heat – is used to close the problem vein, redirecting blood flow to healthy veins, relieving symptoms. A tiny catheter is painlessly inserted into the vein, and the thermal energy causes it to shrink and seal shut. 

Medical Adhesive Closure.  A small amount of a specially formulated medical adhesive – or glue – is injected through a small catheter into the problem vein to seal it, rerouting blood to nearby healthy veins. 

Endovenous Laser Thermal Ablation. Pulses of laser light are delivered inside the vein through a small fiber, collapsing and sealing it shut. 

Foam Sclerotherapy.  A specially formulated foam solution is injected into a blood vessel through a small catheter to close it. The blood reroutes itself through healthy veins, restoring more normal blood flow.

Ambulatory Microphlebectomy. Tiny, slit-like incisions are made in the skin to surgically (without a scalpel) remove problem veins. The procedure is bloodless and generally painless.

Variations on the same methods used to treat varicose veins also are used to cosmetically treat spider veins, which are smaller than varicose.

Richard M. Basile, MD, FACS, is medical director of the Berkshire Vein Center at Berkshire Medical Center.

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