Ultrasound
Ultrasound is a non-invasive and painless test used to determine the cause of your varicose veins. It helps us get a full and accurate 'map' of them; and helps guide, plan, and monitor whatever treatment your vascular surgeon recommends. These scans also allow our vascular scientists to check for any signs of clotting (Deep Vein Thrombosis or other abnormalities) in your deep veins. This same technology is used during sclerotherapy as well, to guide the operation. We follow best practice in conducting a full duplex ultrasound during your first varicose vein consultation and during the follow-up appointment, when we will check that veins we have treated are fully closed. ‘Duplex’ here means that we combine two different sound-imaging techniques (Doppler and B-mode) to get the fullest possible image of the vein. This technology gives us a live image of any enlarged vein (so we can map in detail how they are laid out) and means we can also assess the direction and speed of the blood moving through it.
