What is Echo-Sclerotherarpy?

For those spider veins or varicose veins that cannot be seen on the skin’s surface or larger affected veins beneath the skin’s surface, our vascular doctors at the Vein Institute of NJ may opt to do vein treatments through ultrasound-guided sclerotherapy, also called echo-sclerotherapy.

What’s involved with Echo-Sclerotherapy?
This type of vein treatment is conducted in our offices, without the need for anesthesia. Our board certified doctors will use ultrasound to create a ”map” of your varicose veins and vein system. Ultrasound provides a better look at the ‘highway’ beneath your skin’s surface and enables the doctor to see the deeper varicose vein formations that may not be visible on the skin’s surface. This inside look, using completely non-invasive, non-radiaton ultrasound technology, allows our vein doctors to create a plan for your sclerotherapy solutions.

Next, your vascular doctor will use ultrasound imaging to visualize your affected veins on an ultrasound screen. With this information, the doctor will use real-time ultrasound monitoring to guide a needle that will inject a treatment solution – sclerosant – into the vein. Your doctor will be able to see the sclerosant entering the vein to the ideal measurement for treatment, and all additional affected veins will be injected and treated using the same high-tech visualization technique.

Echo-sclerotherapy might be used for vein treatments that cannot be handled with lasers. It may be used in combination with other types of treatments, according to your vein doctor’s expertise in choosing the ideal pairings of procedures to achieve optimal results. It might, for instance, be selected as a next step after varicose veins recur after vein stripping, endovenous techniques or surgery.

While the term echo-sclerotherapy may sound intimidating, it simply allows your vein doctor to get a better look deeper into your affected veins and treatment areas. With this insight, our doctors can deliver the ideal chemical treatment to seal and eliminate varicose veins that could, over time, become more pronounced and perhaps even cause more dangerous vein conditions that would require more invasive procedures to solve.

Follow Up
When you go for your follow-up visits, ultrasound visualization will be used again to monitor your vein’s closing-up progress. At this point, echo-sclerotherapy may be used to administer additional treatments to your known affected varicose veins and address any residual varicose veins spotted by your trained and experienced vein doctor.

For further information, schedule an appointment with us at the Vein Institute of NJ.