VNUS Catheter Ablation
Newer Less Invasive Methods of treating varicose veins;
VNUS Closure and EVLT (Laser Surgery)
The vein which runs down the inside of the leg from the groin to the ankle (long saphenous vein) is the commonest vein to allow blood to flow in
the wrong direction and to need treatment (see “varicose veins” for an explanation).
Traditional surgery involves making a cut in the groin to tie this off and then removing it (“stripping”). While this is effective, it requires a
general anaesthetic and produces a significant amount of bruising which takes time to recover from.
Newer treatments aim to deal with this vein in a much less invasive way so as to avoid a cut and often the need for a general anaesthetic, they
also produce much less pain and bruising, so that recovery is faster.
There are two basic non-invasive ways of dealing with the vein, either by feeding a very fine device up within the vein from below and using it to heat up the
vein from the inside (VNUS catheter ablation or Endovenous Laser therapy) or by injecting foam into the vein (foam sclerotherapy).
VNUS catheter ablation
See Mr MacSweeney doing a local anaesthetic VNUS procedure on BBC News.
Closurefast procedure animation video
Download a PDF of the patients guide to VNUS Closure.
In the “Closurefast” procedure, some local anaesthetic is placed over the vein to be treated, usually just below the knee, a small tube is inserted into
the vein, and the VNUS catheter is inserted via this tube into the vein and passed up inside the vein until it reaches the top of the vein in the groin.
An ultrasound scanner is used to monitor the position of the catheter inside the vein. Once positioned more local anaesthetic is placed around the full
length of the vein to be treated. The catheter is then switched on and this heats up a 7cm section of the vein at the end of the catheter which shrivels
it up, the catheter is then withdrawn another 7cm and the next section treated and so on until the entire vein has been treated.
The catheter is removed, a support stocking or bandage is placed on the leg, and the patient gets up and goes home. Mr MacSweeney did the first VNUS
procedure in Nottingham in 2002, the first hundred cases were followed up by ultrasound scan and the procedure was successful in 99%.
The improvement in terms of post-operative recovery was striking bur the original procedure was performed under general anaesthetic. The new Closurefast
system is an excellent development because it can be done under local anaesthetic.