Released on: September 16, 2011, 2:30 pm
Author:
VNUS
Industry:
Healthcare
A revolutionary new treatment for varicose veins is proving a successful alternative to surgery.
The VNUS ClosureFast catheter is a minimally invasive alternative treatment, which doctors claim, results in less pain and bruising than traditional vein stripping surgery.
Using the Closure system,
doctors close the diseased veins by inserting the closure catheter into a vein and
heating the vein wall using temperature-controlled RF energy. As it is
catheter-based, it results in little to no scarring.
Heating the vein wall causes collagen in the wall to shrink and the vein to close. After the vein is sealed shut, blood then naturally reroutes to healthy veins.
Dr Thomas Proebstle, a dermatologist and expert in venous diseases, said: “Beauty treatments and aesthetic surgery is on the increase all over the world. Quite often, this is associated with risky procedures, some pain and lengthy courses of wound healing.
“With this new, less-invasive approach, the procedure is much more gentle and smoother. The risks are much lower and the pain is kept to a low level, plus it can be administered under local anesthetic.”
Dr Proebstle, who is Professor for Dermatology at University of Pecs in Hungary, added: “Obviously this type of treatment does not need to be performed in a theatre or hospital, which improves its cost-effectiveness. It can easily be performed in an outpatient setting with the right medical facilities.”
The results of a recently published three-year-study carried out at eight european centres, which involved 225 outpatients, showed a huge success rate for the treatment.
The study showed that between 12 and 24 months after the treatment, 96.4 per cent of patients reported they had no pain. After 24 months, that number had increased to more than 99 per cent.
This bodes well for the future of vascular surgery. VNUS Closure was showcased at
the NHS Expo in March as a technology that will contribute to the NHS's plan to
boost productivity and efficiency by saving £1 billion.
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http://vnus.co.uk/