Anatomical dissections provide a unique insight into how veins function. Whilst they cannot demonstrate flow patterns resulting from muscular contraction they are able to illustrate the pathways available for drainage. Flow direction in health can be inferred by the direction of the valves. The foot venous pump (FVP) is a significant contributor to augmenting the… Read More »
Mechanical thrombo-prophylaxis devices have the potential to reduce venous thrombo-embolism (VTE) events without the risk of precipitating haemorrhage. This is pertinent especially for patients undergoing elective/emergency surgery or in trauma patients. MEHMET KURTOGLU Despite pharmacological prophylaxis, 50% of surgical patients with a Caprini score > 10 develop a VTE in the postoperative period. This suggests… Read More »
D-dimer levels are firmly established as a method of screening patients for venous thromboembolism (VTE). Their sensitivity of over 95% is such that normal levels in most cases can exclude a deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism. However, their specificity is only about 50%. D-dimer levels rise in the elderly, during pregnancy, with immobility and… Read More »
In the advent of modern endovenous techniques open venous surgery still has a place in bypassing obstructed veins. The May-Husni procedure is used to bypass an obstructed (superficial) femoral vein by transposing the distal end of the great saphenous vein (GSV) to the popliteal vein. Most of these patients develop obstructive symptoms from a previous… Read More »
The deep veins in the calf include the posterior tibial, anterior tibial, peroneal, muscular and gastrocnemius veins. If they thrombose this is termed a calf vein thrombosis (cDVT) which can be detected by duplex ultrasound as non-compressibility with the absence of flow during a provocation manoeuvre. However, the tibial and peroneal veins are often paired… Read More »
The observation of granulocyte adherence to the venous endothelium, lymphocyte infiltration and enhanced chemokine expression in the walls of varicose veins suggest an inflammatory process activated by bacteria. This is because these findings are difficult to explain as the sole consequence of destructive physical factors like elevated venous pressure. WALDEMAR L. OLSZEWSKI We searched for… Read More »