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Vascular Diseases

Saint Vincent Heart and Vascular Center is now providing comprehensive treatment plans for all vascular diseases, providing new and innovative opportunities for care. Vascular Disease includes any condition that affects your circulatory system. This ranges from diseases of your arteries, veins and lymph vessels to blood disorders that affect circulation.  These diseases if left untreated can result in life threatening issues including amputation, aneurysms and  in some cases, death. By catching vascular diseases early and providing treatment, we are helping patients to live long and healthy lives.   

Hear from one of our patients on how the vascular program at Saint Vincent offered options that weren't available through other regional facilities. Thanks to cardiologist Matthew Casey Becker, MD,  Anthony DeMarco can now live a happy, healthy life.  



Vascular Problems  

As we age, our arteries tend to thicken, get stiffer and narrow. At the same time, plaque can build up in your arteries, narrowing the amount of blood that can flow through the arteries. This can affect all of your arteries, including the ones that lead to to your heart. Narrowing of the arteries in other places, such as the legs, can cause what is called peripheral arterial disease or peripheral arterial disease.  

Clots (thrombi) are lumps of blood that coagulate and can block the flow of blood to the heart, leading to a heart attack. Clots in the veins can result in deep vein thrombosis, phlebitis, and other problems. If those clots break free, they become emboli. Those emboli can lodge somewhere else resulting once again in life-threatening situations such as heart attacks, strokes and pulmonary embolism. In addition, as part of the system of moving the blood back to the heart, the veins have small one way valves. If those valves weaken, the blood can back up, pool and cause the veins to swell. The result is varicose veins.

Venous Procedures

Millions of Americans unnecessarily suffer from venous diseases like spider veins, varicose veins and venous ulcers. Saint Vincent Heart and Vascular Center is now providing comprehensive treatment plans for all of these venous diseases.    

What is the venous system?
The venous system is made up of a network of veins. It includes:

  • superficial veins- those closest to the surface
  • deep veins - larger veins located deep in the leg
  • perforator veins - those that connect the superficial to the deep veins 

Different venous diseases effect different networks of veins.

How do you know if you have a venous disease?
Healthy leg veins contain valves that open and close to assist the blood flow returning to the heart. If you have a venous disease, these valves do not work properly and can cause pain, swollen limbs, leg heaviness and fatigue, skin color and texture changes, and ulcers.

What are the risk factors for venous disease?
Venous disease depend on a large variety of risk factors, some which are out of your control, including increasing age, family history of vericose veins and hormonal changes due to pregnancy or menopause. Other contributing risk factors include daily prolonged time standing, lack of activity, obesity and overextended sun exposure.  

What screenings diagnose venous disease?
Depending on the patient, one or more techniques to diagnose venous disease might be used including: 

  • Duplex ultrasound
  • CT scan
  • Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
  • Specialized blood tests

If your screening results come back that you have venous disease, you will meet with Matthew Becker, MD or Sam Ward, MD, to figure out the best plan of action for your care.  
 
What treatment options are available?
Sclerotherapy is an outpatient surgical technique. The doctor inserts a chemical into the varicose vein which will prevent the vein from filling with blood. This will eliminate the vein by natural absorption.

Laser treatment is also available. During this procedure, a small thread like fiber is inserted into varicose veins. The laser fiber then emits energy to eliminate the vein. The vein is then naturally absorbed by the body. If you have peripheral artery disease (P.A.D) in your legs, peripheral laser atherectomy is just one procedure your physician might recommend. Peripheral laser atherectomy uses a catheter that emits high energy light (laser) to unblock the artery. The catheter is maneuvered through the vessel until it reaches the blockage. Laser energy is used to essentially vaporize the blockage inside the vessel. The result is increased blood flow to the peripheral tissue. 

Ablation is another method eliminate varicose veins.  During this procedure, a catheter is inserted into the varicose veins. The walls of the vein are heated by electrodes in the catheter, the vein is rendered useless and absorbed naturally by the body.  

To learn more about venous diseases go to /www.saintvincenthealth.com/Services/Heart To schedule your appointment for a consultation, call the Saint Vincent Heart and Vascular Center at 814-453-7767.  


There are many venous diseases, the most common,vericose veins.

The swollen veins are called varicose veins. Varicose veins occur in both sexes but are more common in women. Heredity and acquired stresses cause the veins to weaken and bulge. They often first appear before age 40 and get worse with age. The legs, feet, and pelvic area are most often affected. The legs are highly susceptible to forming varicose veins because these veins carry blood the greatest distance to return the blood to the heart. The most common sites of varicose veins are on the back of the calf and the inside of the leg. Usually they present only a visual problem, but severe cases may lead to pain, skin ulcers, and blood clots.

Symptoms usually appear before age 40 and include:

  • prominent and blue appearance of veins in the legs
  • swelling of the feet and ankles
  • muscle cramps and aching
  • leg muscles that tire easily
  • soreness behind the knee
  • persistent itching of the skin around the enlarged veins
  • sores on the skin, especially near the ankle

In addition to heredity, factors contributing to the development of varicose veins include excess weight, hormonal changes during pregnancy or menopause, pressure on pelvic veins when pregnant, and long periods of standing.

The following tips will help reduce symptoms from varicose veins:

  • exercise regularly
  • avoid prolonged standing or sitting in one position
  • do not cross the legs while seated
  • avoid wearing girdles, control-top pantyhose, or garters; instead wear support hose
  • avoid constipation
  • lose excess weight and
  • elevate your legs higher than your heart when possible

Treatment for varicose veins includes:

  • support stockings or compression bandages to assist moving the blood to the heart
  • injection of chemicals into the veins or surgery to remove larger veins causing pain or ulceration
  • ablations to help re-direct or open the flow of blood through the body

For more information, speak with your health care provider. If your health care provider would like to refer you to a cardiologist, ask for a referral to a Saint Vincent Heart Center cardiac specialist.