COMMON CONCERNS ABOUT VEIN TREATMENTS

Patients frequently wonder about the long-term effects of vein removal, such as the impact of the procedure on their circulation and the need to preserve major veins for bypass surgery.

The human circulatory system is a wondrous, multilayered network, with miles of vessels that work much like an intricate highway system: When one road is closed, numerous alternate routes become available. In fact, because abnormal veins can cause blood to flow in the wrong direction, their closure or removal usually improves the patient's circulation.

The only veins essential to the network, and thus to your circulation, are deep veins, which reside in the muscle. These veins seldom become abnormal. The veins that typically become varicosed, unsightly, and sometimes extremely painful are surface veins. These veins are treatable by sclerotherapy or surgery.

Chances are that you will never need bypass surgery. Proper diet, exercise, and other preventative measures go a long way toward keeping your heart healthy and remarkable breakthroughs are providing alternatives to the traditional bypass.

Sometimes, bypass surgery remains a patient's best alternative. In that case, the heart surgeon usually removes the saphenous vein from the leg to use for the graft. Treatment of spider and minor varicose veins leaves the saphenous vein unaffected. If more serious problems require closing off or removal of one or both saphenous veins, heart surgeons can usually find suitable alternatives. Most often, they choose another vein or even the internal mammary artery, located behind the breastbone. In any case, a dilated varicosed saphenous vein would not likely be a good candidate for a bypass graft.