Mark Whiteley doing a HIFU treatment for varicose veins for Technovasc conference 2020
This morning Prof Mark Whiteley presented venous research at Technovasc 2020.
Technovasc is an annual conference held in Brazil. It concentrates on both arterial and venous disease, and new ways of treating them.
Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, this year’s conference was held as a webinar.
Conclusions of the HIFU talk
Mark presented a case treated with the High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) Echotherapy technique. Using the Sonovein machine, this totally non-invasive way of treating varicose veins is starting to gain huge interest in the whole of the world.
The presentation included background on varicose veins and venous disease. Mark went on to explain how HIFU works, ablating the varicose veins permanently reducing the risk of recurrence.
Finally, he should some videos of the treatment and went through the case of one patient who is now one year after her treatment.
Currently, there are six Sonovein machines in the world. The only one in the UK is at The Whiteley Clinic. The Whiteley Clinic performed the first HIFU case for varicose veins outside of a research study in May 2019.
Mark Whiteley presenting research about endovenous microwave treatment of varicose veins at Technovasc 2020
The second presentation was the new endovenous microwave ablation (EMWA) treatment of varicose veins.
Endovenous microwave ablation has all of the advantages of the top endovenous laser ablation and radiofrequency ablation techniques. However, it has additional advantages over both of these.
It is becoming quite well known as both Chris Evans and James Blunt have had this treatment at The Whiteley Clinic, as well as several other celebrities who have decided to remain anonymous.
It appears that pain after endovenous microwave might be less than endovenous laser, although the studies to show this are currently being started. However, the science suggesting this is quite compelling. Indeed, Chris Evans posted on social media that he ran 9 km the day after his treatment!
The first endovenous microwave ablation in Europe was performed by Mark Whiteley in February 2019.
HIFU treatment of varicose veins – presented at Technovasc 2020 by Mark Whiteley
The best way for patients to know that they are getting treatment by doctors who consistently get good results and who used techniques that give good results is by using a registry.
Doctors and hospitals that take part in registries put all of their patients into the registry anonymously. The registry then uses automated emails over the years to the patients to find out who has had a good result and who has had a bad result in the medium and long term.
This makes sure that over the years, doctors and clinics who are part of the registry can be certain that they are getting good results. If there are any problems, or poor results, the cause can be tracked down and identified.
For this reason, all of the doctors at The Whiteley Clinic are part of the College of Phlebology international Venous Registry. In addition, HIFU and microwave are included as treatments on the registry so that all of the results are monitored.
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