What is the chronic venous insufficiency?
Chronic venous insufficiency occurs when your leg veins don’t allow blood to flow back up to your heart. Normally, the valves in your veins make sure that blood flows toward your heart. But when these valves don’t work well, blood can also flow backwards. This can cause blood to collect (pool) in your legs.
What are 2 of the main causes of chronic venous insufficiency?
The causes of chronic venous insufficiency include: High blood pressure in the leg veins over time, due to sitting or standing for long periods. Lack of exercise. Smoking.
What is the most common cause of chronic venous insufficiency?
CVI most commonly occurs as the result of a blood clot in the deep veins of the legs, a disease known as deep vein thrombosis (DVT). CVI also results from pelvic tumors and vascular malformations, and sometimes occurs for unknown reasons.
How is chronic venous insufficiency diagnosed?
CT Venogram. A CT venogram uses a series of X-rays and computer software to detect blood flow and clots in the deep veins of the legs. A contrast dye is injected into a vein to highlight blood flow on a computer screen. This test can take 45 minutes or longer.
Which are risk factors for venous insufficiency?
Risk factors for venous insufficiency include:
- Age.
- Family history of this condition.
- Female sex (related to levels of the hormone progesterone)
- History of deep vein thrombosis in the legs.
- Obesity.
- Pregnancy.
- Sitting or standing for long periods.
- Tall height.
Can venous insufficiency be cured?
treatment! When a vein is damaged and affected by chronic venous insufficiency, it cannot be “repaired”. The way to treat varicose vein disease is to close the damaged veins, causing the blood to divert to normal, healthy veins.
Can venous insufficiency affect the heart?
So, to sum up, venous insufficiency doesn’t affect the heart or cause heart problems to progress. On the other hand, existing heart problems, especially congestive heart failure, can make vein problems in the legs much worse depending on the degree of the heart issue.