If someone were to ask you to name the most important “breakthroughs” in medical science in the last few decades, what would you answer?
If you are old enough to remember polio and smallpox, you might consider the elimination of those diseases important. Or you might consider organ transplants and modern heart surgery important.
In this article, vein specialists from the best vascular clinics in Tempe and Sun City will discuss two medical breakthroughs that have changed modern medicine drastically. However, they are less known by the general public. The breakthroughs we as vascular specialists have in mind are the tremendous improvements in the field of medical imaging and visualization. Specifically, the invention of minimally-invasive endovenous therapy, within the specialty of interventional radiology.
Modern medical imaging has made x-rays look old-fashioned
Don’t get us wrong…as doctors we know that the invention of x-rays in 1895 was a really big deal. It was a monumental breakthrough in the field of medicine. It was the first time that doctors could “look inside” the bodies of their patients without surgically opening them up. But x-rays, as important as they were to the progress of medicine, had some significant drawbacks. X-ray equipment itself is bulky and expensive and the radiation it produces can be dangerous if overused.
These drawbacks helped to make the invention of medical ultrasound and the field of diagnostic sonography the huge breakthroughs they have become. Ultrasound is a safe, inexpensive and portable technology used to “look inside” patients’ bodies to visualize and diagnose disease conditions. Instead of relying on x-ray radiation, an ultrasound device uses high-frequency sound. It beams these painless, harmless sound waves through the skin, and then records what happens to them as they bounce off of bones, organs, and tissue. A computer then analyzes these sound waves when they bounce back, “decoding” them to create a “map” of what is happening under the patient’s skin.
Since it was introduced, ultrasound has become a fundamental part of modern medicine. At CiC, our top Tempe and Sun City vein specialists use advanced Doppler ultrasound to not only see the structure of our patients’ veins, but the flow of blood within them. This enables us to detect blockages such as blood clots. It also allows us to easily and painlessly diagnose diseases such as chronic venous insufficiency (CVI). CVI causes blood to flow back into the veins and pool there, leading to varicose veins.
The other breakthrough is interventional radiology – the science of minimally-invasive surgery
As doctors, we know that traditional invasive surgery is important. There are still many disease conditions that require it. But invasive surgery comes with risks. Large incisions can result in scarring, and recovering from them can require days or even weeks. Plus, the surgeries themselves must be performed in a hospital and under general anesthesia, which always involves some degree of risk.
The invention of portable ultrasound devices enabled surgeons to invent new ways of treating their patients’ disease without the need for invasive surgery. Instead of making large incisions, interventional radiologists insert small needles or catheters directly into a vein through a small puncture. Using ultrasound, they can then precisely guide the catheter into place inside the vein, to the exact location of a blockage or failure. Once it is in position, they can inject medicines to close a diseased varicose vein and eliminate it.
At CiC, we use these state-of-the-art techniques to provide vein disease treatment that can radically improve your life
Thanks to these two medical breakthroughs, modern vein disease treatment is fast and painless. Most of the procedures we perform can be completed in less than hour on an outpatient basis, in the comfort of our Tempe or Sun City vein clinics. CiC’s varicose vein treatment specialists can eliminate a patient’s swollen veins on their lunch hour. Our patients walk in with vein disease, and walk out without it. Now THAT is what we call a medical breakthrough!
If you would like us to explain more about these breakthrough medical procedures and what they can do for you, give us a call at 888-377-7122 or go online to set up a consultation and get the treatment process started. You’ll be glad you did.