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Chronic Venous Disease and Varicose Veins

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Vascular Diseases for the Non-Specialist

Abstract

The lower limb venous system is responsible for the return of the blood from the leg toward the heart. Chronic venous disease occurs by a deficiency in the blood return due to structural or functional abnormalities of the veins of the lower limbs. Insufficient venous return leads to the accumulation of blood in the lower limbs and to varying degrees of venous hypertension, presenting a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations, ranging from simple telangiectasies and varicose veins to advanced forms. Chronic venous disease has a large prevalence in the world population and has significant impact on health services for high demand due to disease symptoms, activity limitation and aesthetic concern. Common symptoms are pain, cramps, heaviness, edema, and lower limb ulcer. The presence of tortuous and dilated veins must be noted, as well as telangiectasies, angiomatous formation, edema, and trophic skin alterations. CEAP classification has been proposed in order to standardize the scientific publications about varicose veins and therapeutic indications. Chronic venous disease treatment involves no interventionist actions to control symptoms and improve the quality of life with physical activity, compression therapy, phlebotropic agents, and interventional treatment such as sclerotherapy, transdermal laser, or surgery. Today, we have the minimally invasive methods as an alternative of surgery: endovenous ablation with laser or radiofrequency and foam sclerotherapy.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Vascular Surgery, Hospital das Clínicas da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Avenida Alfredo Balena, 110, Belo Horizonte, 30360-440, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    Maíra Faria Braga Pires

  2. Department of Surgery, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Avenida Professor Alfredo Balena, 110, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, 30130-100, Brazil

    Raquel Ferreira Nogueira M.D.

  3. Department of Vascular Surgery, Hospital das Clínicas da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Avenida Professor Alfredo Balena, 110 Santa Efigênia, Belo Horizonte, 30130100, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    Tulio Pinho Navarro Ph.D.

Authors
  1. Maíra Faria Braga Pires
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  2. Raquel Ferreira Nogueira M.D.
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  3. Tulio Pinho Navarro Ph.D.
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Correspondence to Maíra Faria Braga Pires .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Vascular Surgery, Hospital das Clínicas da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    Tulio Pinho Navarro

  2. Yale Univ School Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA

    Alan Dardik

  3. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    Daniela Junqueira

  4. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizone, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    Ligia Cisneros

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Pires, M.F.B., Nogueira, R.F., Navarro, T.P. (2017). Chronic Venous Disease and Varicose Veins. In: Navarro, T., Dardik, A., Junqueira, D., Cisneros, L. (eds) Vascular Diseases for the Non-Specialist. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46059-8_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46059-8_14

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-46057-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-46059-8

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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