If you’ve struggled from vein pain or suspect you may have other venous issues, an ultrasound is typically the first step we take to determine what treatment options may be the best course of action for you. This vein screening only takes about 15 minutes, is noninvasive, and easily helps us to diagnose you.
A venous ultrasound is performed for a variety of reasons. Typically, we use ultrasounds to determine the cause of leg swelling. In people with varicose veins, the valves that normally keep blood flowing back to the heart may be damaged, and venous ultrasound can help identify those valves and abnormal blood flow. We also may map out the veins in the leg or arm so that pieces of vein may be removed and used to bypass a narrowed or blocked blood vessel.
What are the benefits vs. risks of a venous ultrasound?
Benefits
- Most ultrasound scanning is noninvasive (no needles or injections are used).
- It’s pain-free, there may be moments where an ultrasound is uncomfortable, but it should not be painful.
- No risk of radiation making ultrasound imaging extremely safe.
- Ultrasound scanning gives a much clearer picture of soft tissues that typically do not show up well on x-ray images.
- Venous ultrasounds help to show blood clots in legs before they become dislodged and pass to the lungs. Ultrasounds also show the movement of blood within blood vessels.
- Venous ultrasound is accurate for detecting blood clots in the veins of the thigh down to the knee, versus venography, which requires injecting contrast material into a vein. Though ultrasounds may not be able to show very small veins in calves, potentially dangerous clots are usually located in larger veins, so this tends to not be an issue.
Risks
- There are no known harmful effects on humans
As you can see, the benefits of a venous ultrasound greatly outweigh the risks and are extremely helpful in diagnosing vein-related issues and conditions. If you are interested in scheduling an ultrasound or simply coming in for a consultation appointment, call us at 817.235.0769.