The Treatment of Pelvic Veins Reflux
Up until the year 2000 we had looked at several different ways of treating this condition - but all of these older methods had major drawbacks or failure rates.
We had tried operating directly on the veins in the pelvis either by open surgery or by Laparoscopic (keyhole) surgery - but these approaches had been traumatic to the patients and had given fairly poor results.
After discussions with several experts, we decided the best way forward was to use ' Pelvic Vein Embolisation' (see animation and explanation below).
This is an x-ray technique where a needle is put into a vein and, under x-ray control, a thin tube called a catheter is pushed into the vein we wish to treat.
When it is in the correct place, a metal 'coil' or a special embolising material called 'Gelfoam' is pushed out into the vein.
Neither of these embolising techniques are new - both coils and Gelfoam have been in use for over 20 years in different areas of the body to block off blood vessels - so we know they are safe and effective.
For many years they have been used to block off male testicular veins - in the treatment of varicoceles - and there are several years of experience, by some specialist centres, in using these in ovarian veins.
However, it is not just the pelvic vein embolisation that is important, it is how it is done - see the techniques that we have developed over many years at The Whiteley Clinic.
