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There is an increasing trend for venous treatments to be performed in small stand-alone doctor-owned clinics providing treatments under local anaesthetic only.
Although I am a great fan of local anaesthetic techniques - and indeed our pioneering use of short-acting nerve blocks provides excellent intraoperative and postoperative anaesthesia and analgesia - local anaesthesia is not appropriate for all clinical situations.
With extensive bilateral varicose veins, infiltrating large amounts of local anaesthesia can itself be painful.
Other patients may have an anxious disposition or may have had a previous bad experience with local anaesthetic.
In these cases, it is useful to be able to offer a general anaesthetic option and this can only be administered safely within a hospital setting, with all the safety and reassurance of full back-up facilities and specialist colleagues available.
" As always, patient safety is paramount. In 2017 my overall rating from BUPA patients was ‘excellent’ – the top rating."
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At the end of 2017 I attended The Veith Symposium in New York – the largest meeting of vascular surgeons in the world.
I attended this in my role as Treasurer and UK Representative on the executive committee of the International Society for Vascular Surgery but it also enabled me to attend a large number of presentations regarding the latest techniques for treating venous disorders.
One of the most exciting new techniques has been the use of surgical glue (a specialist form of superglue) to seal off varicose veins. This has been investigated for a number of years now and initial results were very encouraging, but longer-term complications are now starting to be reported.
In my view, one of the main disadvantages of the technique is that unlike existing techniques such as laser, VNUS and ClariVein, the glue technique leaves a line of glue in the subcutaneous tissues for the rest of the patient’s life.
In New York there were some reports of this glue causing chronic inflammation and in one case having to be surgically removed.
As doctors have found treating other conditions, leaving foreign material within a patient’s body can result in problems years later, so I have decided that I will need to see longer-term follow-up results before I recommend this technique to my patients.
At present, the results I achieve from treating varicose veins with the endovenous laser and Clarivein techniques are truly excellent, with minimal pain and excellent functional and cosmetic results and the long-term follow-up results are very good and these techniques represent the gold standard methods at the moment.
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It was very gratifying to receive notification from the UK’s largest private medical insurer BUPA that I had won an award for excellent patient satisfaction.
All BUPA patients provide feedback and a rating of the treatment they have received from their consultant.
In 2017 my overall rating from BUPA patients was ‘excellent’ – the top rating.
Totally independent feedback such as this is very useful for consultants as it provides an accurate measure of the quality of care they provide.
"I always strive to provide the highest standard of care to every patient and it is very encouraging to be informed that these efforts are appreciated by such a large number of patients."
Read more about my practice hours and treatments available at BUPA>
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