

 |
Embolisation of Veins of the Pelvis under X-ray control
Embolisation of the Ovarian and Pelvic Veins
Almost
all of our patients with pelvic vein reflux causing:
● Pelvic
congestion syndrome
● Vulval varicose
veins
● Vaginal varicose
veins
● Leg varicose veins
arising from the pelvis
need to have this treatment.
Using the neck approach as in the previous
animation, the catheter can be positioned under X-ray control, into any
of the veins that might be a problem.
In this case, the first X-ray (on the right) shows
the catheter in the patient's left ovarian vein.
The contrast (the "dye" the X-ray can see) falls
with the blood down the vein and into the Varicose veins of the pelvis -
which lie around the ovaries, uterus, bladder and bowel.
These large varicose veins can be clearly seen on
the X-ray.
The
next picture (on the left) shows that the embolisation coils have been
put in the ovarian vein - which is now blocked permanently.
The catheter has no been moved under x-ray
guidance and has been positioned in the patient's right sided veins.
This picture actually shows that not only are the
ovarian veins a problem in the patient, but the pelvic varicose veins
are also coming from another vein - the Internal Iliac Vein on this
side.
The
final picture (on the right) shows three sets of embolisation coils -
all completely and permanently blocking the veins that they are in.
Both ovarian veins are embolised, as is the
patient's right internal iliac vein.
By stopping the blood refluxing (falling back down
these veins), the pelvic varicose veins should shrink away over a few
weeks.
Any vulval varicose veins should also shrink away
- and any veins in the legs can now be treated with a lower chance of
them coming back again in the future.
Any symptoms that have been due to the varicose
veins in the pelvis (aching, heaviness etc) should slowly improve.
We perform a further trans-vaginal Duplex after 6
- 12 weeks to check whether the veins have been completely treated.
In about 1 in 100 patients, there might still be
some reflux in one of the veins that might need one further embolisation
attempt. However this is now very rare and most patients have a
complete cure on first embolisation.
|


 |