MINT Hospital

Varicose vein: It eradicates the cause with ‘patient-customized’ non-surgical treatment including simple sclerotic injection and Bioadhesive

What is varicose vein

The most common vascular disease that send ‘red flag’ to venous health of leg

It is the most common vascular disease where blood does not reach heart due to damaged valve within leg vein, but stagnates or regurgitate toward the feet. If blood stagnates, venous pressure arises and at the same time, venous wall dilates, disturbing blood circulation.
If superficial vein or perforating veins are damaged, the veins become convoluted, and if sever, there are typical symptoms like pain or skin ulceration. If it is deep veins located within muscle, there are only symptoms of leg numbbess, pain, or edema without bulging vessel, so early discovery may be difficult.

Varicose vein types

Varicose vein is classified into 3 different types based on its location and type

Telangiectasis

Visible thin (1~2mm in diameter) red blood vessels in shape of spider web
Reticular vein

Blue blood vessel with 2~3 mm in diameter. It is convoluted unlike normal vein.
Varicocele

The vein is dilated over 3mm in diameter, which is distinctively visible.

!MINT’NOTE

Key in varicose vein diagnosis, ‘regurgitation of blood’

Even though the vein is not bulging, if regurgitation is progressing on doppler ultrasound image, it is diagnosed as ‘ latent varicose vein’ Once it develops, the symptoms worsen over time, so it is very important to treat the cause at right time.

Comparison of normal leg vein (left)
and leg vein with regurgitation (right) ultrasound image.

Cause of varicose vein

Risk factors of varicose vein, ‘the destined disease of mankind’

The biggest cause of varicose vein is that human stands ‘upright’ against gravity with his/her own legs.
Therefore, varicose vein is almost unapparent in quadruped animal.

Older age

Elasticity of muscle declines every year after 30 and vascular wall weakens also.
Family history(genetics)

When one of the parents have varicose vein, the possiblity of passing it onto their offspring is 30~40% and those who are affected by the mother shows 80%.
Pregnancy / obesity

Increase in abdominal pressure and endocrinal disorder causes problem in blood circulation as blood increases.
Lifestyle

Blood is stagnated due to external pressure for example, crossing your legs, wearing tight clothes and high heels.
Occupation that requires standing or sitting for a long time

It interrupts natural blood flow as blood in the leg is drawn downward due to gravity.

Why does varicose vein occur
more in women?
It has bad influence on venous valve as female hormonal imbalance distends vascular wall and deteriorates elasticity. Also, uterine compression during pregnancy and hormonal change during menopause also causes venous dilation and valve malfunction. Otherwise, wearing high heel and skinny jean frequently has some effect also. (Varicose vein which has occurred during pregnancy returns back to normal within 1 year in most cases, but some may persist afterward)

Symptoms of varicose vein

It is the best preventive measure to check in advance when you feel subtle warning.

‘Progressive’ disease that deteriorates more and more if left untreated

Symptoms develop slowly in varicose vein, so it does not show serious symptoms right away. Without the aesthetic symptom of visible vein, you may be late in treating your varicose vein.Therefore, if you are suspected of any symptoms of following, you must see your doctor before new complications arise more and more

Leg edema
and fatigue
Numbness
or heaviness in
leg during night
Itchness
or flush
Skin tone
alteration
Venous
lesion
Dermal
Lesion
Thrombophlebitis

Atient with varicose vein that increases in number year after year
Based on big data analysis by National Healthcare Insurance Service, patient with varicose vein has increased 17.2% for 5 years, from 164 thousand patients in 2010 to 192 thousand in 2015. Women suffered twice more than men, and it was most prevalent in 50s, taking up to 26.2%. The causes for such phenomenon are that varicose vein tends to develop more in middle-age group, and that patients visit hospital when they cannot take it anymore.

Diagnosis of varicose vein

Self-check

※ More you have amongst the following, more serious the venous circulatory problem is, so you must confer with a specialist.
- 1. Your legs often feel heavy and overworked and swell frequently
- 2. Your legs cramp up easily
- 3. Your legs swell up mostly at the ankle in the afternoon or evening and socks or tights leave marks too deep
- 4. Visible or prominent blood vessels in the leg
- 5. Your legs become numb often, cramp up with pain
- 6. You frequently experience itching and exploding sensation in your legs.
- 7. One or both of your parents have been diagnosed with varicose vein.
- 8. Wound or skin disease in your leg does not heal properly.
- 9. Your leg skin feels coarse and bruise easily.
Consultation with specialist

It is for detailed history-taking and clinical impression. Also, if it is difficult to tell if the symptoms are due to arthritis or varicose vein, the musculoskeletal system must be checked priorly.
Doppler ultrasound

It is a specialized ultrasound test that can confirm anatomic information, as well as vascular deformity, and blood flow in color. This test alone can identify he precise reason of varicose vein.
Venous sufficiency test

Venous sufficiency device (Angiolab4) checks Venous Refilling Time(VRT). It can check vein located deep (deep vein)

※ What is Venous Refilling Time(VRT) It checks the time it takes for blood to refill into superficial vein underneath skin of leg after performing some calf exercise using ankle.
Infrared body temperature test

It measures superficial temperature and detects abnormality in blood circulation. It varicose vein that stagnates and regurgitate blood flow, it shows abnormally high temperature (in red) as in the photo.
Experienced medical staff and precision medical device aloows fast, accurate diagnosis.

Treatment of varicose vein

In MINT hospital,
Intervention radiologist with extensive experience in non-surgical intravascular procedure
with ‘imaging device’ personally diagnose your disease, read your image, and perform procedures.

We promise MINT hospital’s original intervention treatment, a more accurate and safe treatment with double guides of ‘ultrasound’ and ‘angiography’.

Preservative treatment

It is a supplementary procedure to ease the symptoms when they are mild and slow down progression.

Also, a conservative treatment may follow as an aftercare after laser and high-frequency treatment. Venous improvement medication, elastic band, compression stocking (pressure of about 30mmHg), weight loss, light walking, and stretching.

Compression stocking, what is so different from leggings?

Compression stocking is a medical device prescribed by doctor. It applies different pressure for each body parts like ankle, calf, and thigh to facilitate blood circulation. It is designed to show different pressure and length customized to your leg, so it must be worn differently from fashion items like leggings.
Sclerotherapy

It injects sclerotic agent onto the blood vessel that causes varicose vein and induces fibrosis that becomes hard over time.

As effect of sclerotic agent is limited, it can be used to treat telangiectasis, small varicose vein under 4mm in diameter, or varices in perforating vein. The procedure is not effective for varicose vein with diameter enlarged after long progression.
Endovenous Laser Treatment (EVLT)

Procedure that scorches and hardens damaged vein with 1480nm laser

It is a treatment developed by Dr. Robert Min, Ph.D, an intervention radiology professor at Cornell in 1998. It has lower risk of complication and recurrence compared to the conventional procedure that uses low frequency. It is necessary to identify start of the vein with regurgitation with Doppler ultrasound to lessen damage of deep vein.
After the treatment, the patient must wear compression stockings and medication is prescribed if necessary.
Radiofrequency Ablation (RFA)

Procedure that scorches variceal vein with radiofrequency of 85~90℃

It is a commercialized technique after approved by FDA in 1999. Its result is similar to that of laser therapy, but side effects like bruising, pain, abnormal sensation are less, making it to be regarded as a safer procedure. It requires 2-weeks compression stocking after treatment like laser therapy.
CalriVein

Procedure to inject sclerotic agent by inserting catheter rotating within blood vessel

ClariVein, one of 3 major treatments for varicose vein, is more common than VenaSeal in U.S, Canada, and Europe. Conventional sclerotic treatment to sclerotise blood vessels with injection could be performed only on very thin blood vessels and be used for aesthetic purposes, but ClariVein can be used to treat thick veins. ClariVein has designated dosage of STS sclerotic agent that can be used for the body, so if the treatment area is too vast, it can be limited to one leg. MINT hostpial follows strict dosage limitation.

* Compression stocking after procedure : less than 1 week.

Venous

(occlusion using bioadhesive, Venaseal)

After thinly spreading medical bioadhesive, it blocks blood flow by gluing endovenous walls together.

VenaSeal has been used for wound closing and gastroesophageal reflux disease since 60s
and has been approved by US FDA in 2015 fir varicose vein treatment. It has started to spread in Korea since January, 2017.
It does not require sedation aneshteisa, shows fast recovery as there is no pain
and swelling, and does not require compression stockings. It only takes 1~2 days for maximum recovery.

Conducted for the first time in Korea, Jan 2017
New treatment
No pain,
bruising Fast recovery
No compression stocking
No further treatment
In 6 months after treatment
98.9% success of venous occlusion

+ Read references

After performing VenaSeal for calf varicose vein for the first time in Korea,
we have achieved first 100 cases in January, 2018 and then 500 cases in August, 2020 as a hospital.
We will return your trust with honest and correct consultations.

1

After local anesthesia, catheter
is inserted to the target vein
while checking ultrasound
and angiography image
2

Cyanoacrylate adhesive is injected
and the target area is pushed
from the skin surface to compress
and glue the vessel
3 4

While checking if the venous occlusion is complete
with ultrasound, the procedure is repeated

Treatment	Sclerotherapy	Laser treatment	Radiofrequency treatment	ClariVein	VenaSeal
Treatment area	Telangiectasis, small varices under 4mm	Not for severly convuluted vein	Most of varicose vein	Most of varicose bein (unilateral)	Most of varicose vein
Treatment method	Sclerotric agent	Optic-fiber laser abnormal sensation	Radiofrequency at 85~90℃	PHysical venous wall stimulation, sclerotic agent	Bioadhesive (cyanoacrylate)
Features	No anesthesia, multiple treatments if necessary	Local anesthesia (injected 10~15 times), treated once	Local anesthesia (10~15injections), single treatment	Local anesthesia (once), single treatment	Local anesthesia (once) single treatment
Operation duration	10~15 minutes	30 minutes~ 1 hour	30 minutes ~ 1 hour	30~40 minutes	30~40 minutes
Pain	★	★★	Rare	Rare	Rare
Caution	Light bruising, pigmentation	Pain, bruising, abnormal sensation	Slight bruising, pain	Rare vasculitis	Temporary allergy
Aftercare	Immediate return to daily life, compression stocking for one week	Return to daily life on the next day, compression stocking for 2 weeks, medication if necessary	Return to daily life on the next day, compression stocking for 2 weeks, medication if necessary	Immediate return to daily life, compression stocking for one week	Immediate return to daily life, no compression stocking
Periodic checkup		Follow up in 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months after treatment / Annual checkup afterwards
Health insurance	Insurance applied for therapeutic purpose of treating symptoms, not for simple aesthetic purpose.	Non-reimbursement ※ Reach us for actual expense insurance

!MINT’NOTE

Double guide video of hospital’s original non-surgical varicose vein treatment, ‘ultrasound’ and ‘angiography’.

Basic diagnostic tool for varicose vein is ultrasound. Doppler’s ultrasound allows to apprehend blood flow rate, area, and regurgitation in color. However, ultrasound test can identify blood circulation and diagnose diseases, but only angiography can visualize overall blood vessels. MONT hospital conducts angiography that can apprehend venous condition in real time with Doppler’s ultrasound simultaneously. The core principle of varicose vein is to identify start and end of the problematic vein and give an appropriate treatment. This is the key factor in deciding success and recurrence.

Doppler’s ultrasound that can measure blood circulation velocity, area, and regurgitation.
Angiography that can visualize overall vascular condition. It clearly identifies start and the end of problematic lood vessel to increase success of the treatment

Diagnosis of varicose vein

Sclerotherapy
Radiofrequency
VenaSeal

주요 서비스 메뉴

What is varicose vein

Varicose vein types

Cause of varicose vein

Symptoms of varicose vein

Diagnosis of varicose vein

Treatment of varicose vein

Venous

Diagnosis of varicose vein

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