Is ultrasound necessary for varicose vein treatment

What is ultrasound and how does it work?

Your doctor will do a non-invasive, painless duplex ultrasound scan to detect varicose veins. There is no need to get ready for this ultrasound other than to drink a lot of water beforehand. Its imaging uses sound waves to produce images of your body. The afflicted area is penetrated with painless sound waves using a small handheld device called a transducer.

Depending on what they come into contact with, sound waves either pass through or return. Some energy is absorbed as they travel through the body, changing its structure when they return to the transducer. The characteristics of those reflected sound waves reveal their path, including whether they came into contact with blood, artery walls, clots, etc.

Your doctor will apply a gel to the lower limb region prior to the examination. Then, a computer screen will display a picture of how blood flows through the veins thanks to a handheld device that transmits sound waves. This picture will demonstrate whether the blood moves upward into the heart as it should or whether it pools in the lower leg. If blood gathers in the lower leg, the doctor can draw the conclusion that the vein has flimsy valves and cannot efficiently pump blood to the heart. A varicose vein develops when blood builds up in a vein, causing the vein to bulge and become uncomfortable.

After the ultrasound, there are no waiting periods or restrictions. You are now free to carry on with your regular activities.

What are the advantages of ultrasonography?

Accurate ultrasonography results are the first step in varicose vein therapy success. Beyond that, surgery, sclerotherapy, intravenous laser therapy, and radio frequency closure techniques are the main methods for treating varicose veins.

Ultrasound may provide certain patients with a noninvasive substitute for these procedures that carries a lower risk of neurologic disorders, phlebitis, wound problems, or other complications. It can also be repeated as often as necessary and doesn't call for surgery, anesthesia, or intravenous catheters.

Ultrasound has a number of advantages for both you and your doctor, such as :

The ability to see varicose veins that are "invisible." However, ultrasonography can find these veins. Other venous anomalies, such as a blood clot in the leg, may be found using ultrasound.

The ultrasound scans direct the physician to the precise varicose vein during ultrasound-guided sclerotherapy. The vein can then collapse after the doctor injects a sclerosant solution, irritating the vein walls. As healthy veins receive more blood, the varicose vein disappears. The vein specialist utilizes ultrasound images to determine where to implant the catheter during thermal ablation. The vein is subsequently destroyed by the catheter emitting heat from a laser or radiofrequency radiation.