The sural vein is located in the lower leg of a person. In this type of vessels, muscle tissue is significantly developed, since they must be compressed in order to push blood up the leg. Moreover, they are equipped with special valves that do not allow blood to fall by gravity down and form stagnation. Due to constant loads, sural veins are more susceptible to various diseases than others, some of which can only be cured by surgery.
What is thrombosis?
Sural vein thrombosis is a common and dangerous disease. This condition is characterized by the closure of the lumen in the vein, up to complete obstruction of blood up the leg.
There are several reasons for this. Usually this is the formation of a cholesterol plaque on the vessel wall, usually at the site of damage to the inner wall of the vein, and the appearance of a blood clot, which is a blood clot resulting from metabolic disorders.
Thrombosis of sural veins is manifested by chronic fatigue in the legs, uneven skin color on the lower legs, edema and pain during exertion of the legs. All this is a consequence of poor blood supply, and hence a lack of oxygen.
In general, the treatment of this disease includes several methods, but in severe cases, for example, with thrombosis of the medial sural vein, a thrombus is removed surgically. In any case, the treatment technique is selected individually.
Phlebeurysm
The sural vein can undergo infectious inflammation, in connection with this, its muscle tone weakens, which leads to local expansion. In the enlarged part of the vessel, the blood flow rate decreases, as does the pressure, which leads to stagnation of fluid in the lower extremities. A common symptom of such a pathology is a burning sensation at the site of inflammation.
Another characteristic feature is that the sural vein becomes visible under the skin. A certain node of a blue hue appears on it. Most often, this state of blood vessels occurs during pregnancy in women. The anatomy of the sural veins of the lower leg suggests an increase in pressure in the vessels, but their walls sometimes do not withstand pressure. The treatment in this case is long, but does not require surgical intervention.
Phlebitis
This pathology is characterized by severe inflammation of the walls of the vessel caused by an open wound, for example, a boil or trophic ulcer. This disease is extremely dangerous, since without timely treatment it can result in rupture of the vessel wall in the affected area. And since the anatomy of the sural veins of the lower leg suggests a high blood pressure in them, such a wound can lead to death of a person.
Causes of Lower Vein Disease
Phlebitis, varicose veins and thrombosis of the sural veins of the lower extremities - this is a problem that the best minds of humanity working in this direction are engaged in. These diseases of varying severity suffer 25-30% of the population of the entire Earth.
Accordingly, in the first place, scientists are trying to establish the causes of these pathologies.
The main causes identified to date are:
- Injury of the walls of blood vessels of deep veins. This happens to people who are involved in activities with high foot injury. For example, with professional football players. Often, players with many years of experience retire, having lost their leg in the fight against gangrene caused by a vessel injury.
- Another reason is a violation of blood coagulability, namely an increase in this indicator. In this case, there is a high risk of the formation of blood clots - blood clots of such a large size that they are able to block the lumen of the largest vessel in the leg.
- The low speed of blood flow can cause thrombosis or stagnation, which is a direct result of a sedentary lifestyle, which has become the main problem of modern man. The anatomy of the sural veins requires constant movement - walking, running, cycling. In the legs, everything is arranged precisely based on the load. And if a person during the day only moves by elevator, escalator, car, and spends a working day in an armchair, then his blood vessels in his legs weaken and undergo various diseases.
- Thrombosis of the sural veins of the leg can occur against the background of hymenal disorder. Most often, it is caused by improperly selected hormonal contraceptives. This is confirmed by the fact that the percentage of sick women is slightly higher than the number of men suffering from foot disease.
- The sural veins of the lower leg are destroyed by nicotine, alcohol and drugs.
- Excessive load can withstand deep veins in the body of an obese overweight person. And since this condition is often accompanied by diabetes mellitus, which destroys the walls of blood vessels, this often leads to gangrene of both limbs.
- Sural vein dilation may be due to cancer.
Signs of the development of pathologies in the deep veins of the legs
The danger of leg vein diseases is that at the first stages there are almost no symptoms or a person does not pay attention to them. The main symptom in this situation is fatigue and heaviness in the legs. But people don’t tend to think that ordinary fatigue is the first sign of vascular disease.
By the time serious symptoms appear that leave no doubt that the pathology has developed in the legs, it requires urgent treatment, and often with the use of surgery.
In this regard, you should pay attention to the following manifestations of the disease:
- Drawing pain under the knee or in the thigh, especially when walking.
- Severe pain occurs not only when walking, but also when the foot or knee moves in weight, with no load on the leg.
- In the evening or in the morning the leg swells.
- The skin on the sore leg is stretched, changes color and texture.
- With varicose veins, veins under the skin show up brightly, first in the form of separate nodes, and with the complication of the disease, the entire network of vessels.
- The pain in the leg begins to bother not only when walking, but also in a calm state, in a prone position.
- The skin of the legs is covered with erosion.
- Against the background of blood flow disturbance, heart problems begin - the patient has tachycardia.
In order to maintain legs, treatment of thrombosis of sural veins must be started immediately after the onset of the first symptoms of the disease. You can’t wait until everything goes away on its own - without therapy, the veins will not return to normal on their own. This should be understood by everyone.
Diagnosis of pathologies in the deep veins of the legs
Diseases of the medial sural veins begin to be diagnosed by collecting information from the patient. Gathering an anamnesis, the doctor determines the age, occupation of the patient, his habits, diet and much more.
Then the patient is sent for a blood test, during which the coagulation rate and general biochemical parameters are established. After this, the patient undergoes a series of instrumental studies prescribed by a doctor. First of all, this is Dopplerography - a procedure that allows you to visually reflect the state of the vessels in the legs.
An equally effective diagnostic method is an ultrasound examination of human vessels for the presence of blood clots in them. A more accurate diagnosis is made according to the results of magnetic resonance imaging.
Treatment of pathologies of sural veins on the legs
Only a specialist should deal with the treatment of this type of disease. Independent actions are likely to lead to a worsening of the situation and even to the death of a person.
The complex of treatment includes not only taking medications prescribed by a doctor, but also physical therapy exercises, dieting and changing the regime of the day - normalizing sleep and eating. All this is extremely important, and any deviation from the doctor’s prescriptions leads to a worsening of the patient’s condition.
Medication includes taking anticoagulants aimed at diluting blood with the subsequent dissolution of blood clots. If there are foci of inflammation in the vessels, antibiotics are prescribed to the patient. Since this type of drug has a prolonged effect, it is strictly forbidden to violate the intake regimen.
In the acute phase of the disease, the patient is prescribed bed rest for the entire period of treatment.
During the treatment of varicose veins, the patient is required to wear compressive veins of elastic dressings. A patient’s diet should not contain foods high in sugar and cholesterol.
Surgery
Surgical treatment is used when conservative treatment does not bring relief or improvement. Methods of this type in modern medicine are developed enough to cope with any pathology.
In thrombosis, a clot can be removed using an endovascular technique using a catheter inserted directly into the vessel.
With severe vascular lesions, part of the damaged vein is removed. If the disease has gone too far, and the patient has started soft tissue necrosis of the leg, accompanied by blood poisoning, then the limb is amputated.
Recently, modern methods of removing affected vessels are widely used - laser radio-frequency coagulation.
You need to understand that this type of disease can occur again, even after surgery, if the patient does not change his diet and does not get rid of bad habits.
Alternative treatment
Leg vein disease is not a new problem. For centuries, healers and doctors tried to find a cure for this type of ailment. Many of them turned out to be quite effective. But it is not necessary in the desire to recover to use only folk remedies.
Therapy should be comprehensive, it should include all available treatment methods. Including diet, physiotherapy, quitting alcohol and smoking. Only in this case, treatment with folk remedies can be effective.
Before starting treatment with herbs, infusions and other traditional medicine, you need to consult a doctor, because the patient may have an allergic reaction to the elements of the remedy.
In case of varicose veins, horse chestnut extract is recommended to strengthen the walls of blood vessels. This tool is so effective and popular that it is sold in ordinary pharmacies.
Another treatment for varicose veins is rubbing the feet with tincture on lilac leaves. The mixture is prepared simply: a container of 0.5 l is filled with flowers of the plant and filled with alcohol. After the remedy has been infused in the dark for 10 days, it can be safely used in the morning and evening. The course of such treatment is 30 days.
Thrombophlebitis is treated with a mixture of honey and apples. At the same time, apples should be wiped through a grater, mixed with honey (1 glass of honey on a glass of apples) and let it brew for at least 5 hours in a dark place. It is believed that this tool helps blood clots in the veins dissolve on their own within 2 weeks.
Deep Vein Disease Prevention
Despite the achievements of modern vascular surgery, as well as pharmacology, it is best not to bring your condition to such a radical treatment. The best way to do this is prevention. It is enough to observe a number of rules developed by specialists, and there will be no problems with veins until the very old age.
First of all, you need to understand that a sedentary lifestyle leads to stagnation of blood in the legs and causes blood clots in the veins and vasodilation. Therefore, you need to regularly exercise, walk, ski, or swim in the pool. It is good for your health to exercise regularly, even if it's just an easy run in the evenings. If labor activity is associated with a long sitting position, you need to get to work on foot or by bicycle; go upstairs to the office, not the elevator. All these physical activities help strengthen the walls of blood vessels and muscles of the legs.
Secondly, you need to be careful about your legs and not torment them with fashionable high heels. To understand the seriousness of the issue, you need to think about the following: in the human skeleton, a third of the bones are contained in the legs. So that the legs do not get tired, and the veins are not inflamed, you need to wear soft shoes with low heels.
It is very important to get rid of bad habits until they have caused irreparable damage to health. Nicotine and alcohol kill the body. And when amputation of limbs is a consequence of exposure to alcohol and nicotine, it is also a slow, painful death.
It is important to monitor your weight, do not overeat and do not get involved in sweets. It is in obese people that diabetes most often develops, which destroys blood vessels. And especially on the feet, as they are subject to extreme loads.
To strengthen the walls of blood vessels, experts recommend hardening or simply dousing with cold water.
In order to prevent hormonal malfunction in the body, it is recommended for women to consult a gynecologist before using oral contraceptives.
Well and most importantly - at the first signs of pathologies in the vessels, namely chronic fatigue and heaviness in the legs, you should immediately consult a doctor. Ideally, you need to undergo a medical examination at least once a year.