Venous Interventions
Life-enhancing, lifesaving procedures for your veins
Venous interventions can range from the relatively routine removal of varicose veins to the lifesaving removal of a deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism. The procedures are minimally invasive, meaning you’ll experience a faster recovery time and less trauma to your body.
Overview
Venous interventions can range from the relatively routine removal of varicose veins to the lifesaving removal of a deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism. The procedures are minimally invasive, meaning you’ll experience a faster recovery time and less trauma to your body.
Venous interventions include:
Catheter-directed thrombolysis of deep vein thrombosis (DVT)
Your doctor will guide a medication or medical device to your blood clot to break it up and remove it. This restores blood flow in the vein and helps to prevent a life-threatening pulmonary embolism.
Catheter-directed thrombectomy of deep vein thrombosis (DVT)
Your doctor will make an incision in your vein and remove the blood clot. Sometimes a stent (tube) is inserted to help keep your vein open. This procedure restores blood flow in the vein and helps to prevent a life-threatening pulmonary embolism.
Inferior vena cava (IVC) filters placement and retrieval
Your doctor will place a filtering device in your inferior vena cava, a large vein in your abdomen that returns blood from your lower body to your heart. The filter helps prevent you from having a life-threatening pulmonary embolism by trapping clots from your legs and pelvis that try to travel to your heart and lungs. You might have a filter placed if you can’t have another procedure.
Catheter-directed thrombolysis for pulmonary embolism
You might have this procedure if you are unstable and near death from a pulmonary embolism or your heart function is significantly compromised but stable from a pulmonary embolism. Your doctor will guide a medical device or medication to your blood clot to break it up, remove it and restore blood flow in the vein.
Peripheral angioplasty/stenting for a blocked artery or vein
Your doctor will thread a catheter (hollow tube) with a balloon on the end to your narrowed or blocked vein and inflate the balloon to open the vein. Then the balloon is removed.
Endovenous laser ablation (EVLA) for varicose veins
Your doctor will put a catheter (hollow tube) into the vein. The catheter sends out laser energy that shrinks and seals the vein wall. The surrounding healthy veins restore normal blood flow in your leg.
Phlebectomy for varicose veins
Your doctor will use a small scalpel or needle to remove varicose veins on the surface of your leg.
Sclerotherapy
This minimally invasive outpatient treatment treats your varicose and spider veins. Your doctor will inject a solution directly into the affected veins, causing them to shrink and eventually disappear. Sclerotherapy is used to treat small varicose veins that cause you aching, burning, swelling, and night cramps. It is also used to improve the cosmetic appearance of spider veins.
How Interventional Procedures Work
When you have a venous intervention, your doctor will take images using X-rays, CT scanning, MRI or ultrasound. The images are used to guide special instruments into your arteries, veins and other parts of your body to deliver treatments.
Interventional procedures are minimally invasive. This means less trauma to your body, lower risk of infection, faster recovery time and shorter hospital stays. Most interventional procedures are outpatient.
What to Expect
Venous interventions include:
Catheter-directed thrombolysis of deep vein thrombosis (DVT)
Your doctor will guide a medication or medical device to your blood clot to break it up and remove it. This restores blood flow in the vein and helps to prevent a life-threatening pulmonary embolism.
Catheter-directed thrombectomy of deep vein thrombosis (DVT)
Your doctor will make an incision in your vein and remove the blood clot. Sometimes a stent (tube) is inserted to help keep your vein open. This procedure restores blood flow in the vein and helps to prevent a life-threatening pulmonary embolism.
Inferior vena cava (IVC) filters placement and retrieval
Your doctor will place a filtering device in your inferior vena cava, a large vein in your abdomen that returns blood from your lower body to your heart. The filter helps prevent you from having a life-threatening pulmonary embolism by trapping clots from your legs and pelvis that try to travel to your heart and lungs. You might have a filter placed if you can’t have another procedure.
Catheter-directed thrombolysis for pulmonary embolism
You might have this procedure if you are unstable and near death from a pulmonary embolism or your heart function is significantly compromised but stable from a pulmonary embolism. Your doctor will guide a medical device or medication to your blood clot to break it up, remove it and restore blood flow in the vein.
Peripheral angioplasty/stenting for a blocked artery or vein
Your doctor will thread a catheter (hollow tube) with a balloon on the end to your narrowed or blocked vein and inflate the balloon to open the vein. Then the balloon is removed.
Endovenous laser ablation (EVLA) for varicose veins
Your doctor will put a catheter (hollow tube) into the vein. The catheter sends out laser energy that shrinks and seals the vein wall. The surrounding healthy veins restore normal blood flow in your leg.
Phlebectomy for varicose veins
Your doctor will use a small scalpel or needle to remove varicose veins on the surface of your leg.
Sclerotherapy
This minimally invasive outpatient treatment treats your varicose and spider veins. Your doctor will inject a solution directly into the affected veins, causing them to shrink and eventually disappear. Sclerotherapy is used to treat small varicose veins that cause you aching, burning, swelling, and night cramps. It is also used to improve the cosmetic appearance of spider veins.
How Interventional Procedures Work
When you have a venous intervention, your doctor will take images using X-rays, CT scanning, MRI or ultrasound. The images are used to guide special instruments into your arteries, veins and other parts of your body to deliver treatments.
Interventional procedures are minimally invasive. This means less trauma to your body, lower risk of infection, faster recovery time and shorter hospital stays. Most interventional procedures are outpatient.
