What to know about chronic venous insufficiency: npr

Michel Martin, host:

Up to 30% of all adults in the United States have some form of chronic venous insufficiency. So let’s know more about it. We have Dr. Thomas Maldonado called for this. He is a vascular surgeon at the Nyu Langone Health in New York. Good morning, Dr. Maldonado. Thank you for coming to us.

Thomas Maldonado: Good morning. Nice to be here.

Martin: So what are some of the early indicators for it? What should people look for?

Maldonado: Well, you know, this is a progressive illness, so there is a spectrum of symptoms and signs. And early, that’s something that can occur with a slight swelling. People often feel somewhat severe, some itching in their legs or not. And then varicose veins is a kind of what the common presentation is. People come in with unsightly veins.

They want to look better in summer. They want those who be treated. But that is actually an indication that there is a problem with the veins and the venous cycle.

Martin: You know, the White House published the results of the youngest physical president in April, which is almost three months ago. It showed that there were “normal blood flow and no swelling” in its extremities. So is it possible that this condition was switched on so quickly in just a few months?

Maldonado: Well, probably unlikely. I mean there is – this is a chronic disease and it is therefore the name of chronic venous insufficiency. So it really happens for a lifetime, although it is more common in older adults, especially women, more often, as we know. The best way to understand this is that blood circulation is really easy. You know we have a pump, our heart. It drives blood back through the arteries that deliver it to the organs, the extremities and veins.

And over time, these veins can become weak over time when we fight against gravity every day of our lives. If you know, the valves that live in the veins can fail these sensitive little valves, and that really happens for years, so unlikely that it happened overnight.

Martin: However, I only wondered how or why are his doctors so sure that this is a vascular problem and not a heart problem? Why is that the sanitary problem and not the heart problem? Which end …

Maldonado: Yes.

Martin: … of the spectrum, right? How is …

Maldonado: Right.

Martin: … is it a top-down problem or a bottom-up problem? You seem to be convinced that it is a bottom-up problem, but why are you so sure?

Maldonado: Well, you know, there is a review that is set up. Whenever you see someone with swelling, you will rate his heart. If you have heart failure, you can increase your liver failure, as you know, also increase your total body water if you will and kidney failure. So there are a number of different systemic reasons why people can swellen.

And these are excluded with various tasks, so I am sure that he had an echocardiogram. This gives you a complete evaluation of the other systems. But generally frequent things happen frequently and certainly, as you know, chronic venous insufficiency is a very common illness.

Martin: I have read that women are statistically rather susceptible to this disease. Can you only reinforce that? How is that? And are there differences in how it is in men or women?

Maldonado: Yes. Well, women – pregnancy and repeat that more than one pregnancy can contribute the risk factors for the development of chronic venous insufficiency. And there are a number of reasons for that. But the symptoms or how people are present is the same. It is the swelling, the pain, the severity. And in the more serious cases in which we have changes in skin fibrosis, skin breakdown, as you have heard, with ulcers and infections that can develop. So it is actually not so benign, especially in the later phases.

Martin: So – and only one thing about the president. The doctor of the White House led a few bruises on the president’s hands: “Frequent shake of the hand and the use of aspirin that is used to prevent cardiovascular diseases.” I am sure that many people do this, take a small aspirin per day. What do you do about this explanation?

Maldonado: Yes. I think it’s plausible. I mean, aspirin is one of these drugs that can be very important for the vascular health of people, but they can also give them these skin manifestations, in which they have a kind of bruising or what we call the vessels as simple capillary encryption, and certainly all kinds of local trauma, whether they are, know, a bracelet or a guard, which are sometimes in the skin, in the skin and in the skin. of the skin.

Martin: Before I let you go, are there things like us how to do ourselves to prevent or take care of this?

Maldonado: Yes. I think early recognition, like most things. You want to catch this early so that you can prevent progress, you know, compression stockings, leg survey, movement, weight loss, more, you know, obesity is one of the most important risk factors. So watch your health, stay healthy and wear compression. You know that you want to recognize these things early so that you do not lead to the more serious chronic problem phases.

Martin: Ok. In order. This is Dr. Thomas Maldonado. He is a vascular surgeon at the Nyu Langone Health. Dr. Maldonado, thank you for shared these findings with us.

Maldonado: Thank you.

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