You may feel some minor pain or stinging at the numbing site where the vein will be accessed. A small hollow tubed catheter is them inserted into the vein which may cause mild pressure. Using ultrasound, small amounts of painless medical adhesive are given inside of the vein and the vein walls are then shut together. Some mild pulling or tugging may be felt during this portion.
After treatment the catheter is removed and a small bandage or band aid is applied. Compression stockings do not need to be worn is the venaseal procedure is performed alone without other vein procedures.
What Happens After the Procedure?
After the procedure you will walk for 10-15 minutes in the clinic to be sure that you are recovering well. You will then be discharged home.
Over the next couple of weeks you will need to walk and avoid very long periods of inactivity. Depending on your symptoms you may be able to return to all normal activities very shortly following the procedure.
2-3 weeks following the procedure you will return to clinic for a follow-up appointment with ultrasound. This will verify that the vein remained closed and will address any concerns that you may have.
A final follow-up office appointment with ultrasound will be performed around 4 months following the procedure in order to document long term closure of the treated vein.
Venaseal is FDA approved for the treatment of superficial venous insufficiency / reflux. All medical procedures do have some risk, Venaseal carries the risk of the following side effects, similar to other procedures design to treat varicose veins: allergic reaction, deep vein thrombosis (DVT), bleeding at the access site, darkening of the skin overlying the treated vein, infection at the access site and pain overlying the closed vein.
Venaseal is the only FDA approved procedure that uses an injection of medical adhesive to close veins. Because this adhesive works immediately to cause venous closure, as opposed to other procedures that involve thermal or chemical irritation of the vein but not immediate adhesive closure, compression stockings do not need to be worn following the Venaseal procedure. In addition, because the entire length of the vein is not heated, a smaller amount of numbing medicine is used, making it less painful and a quicker recovery than other vein closure options.