SKEWER-method to obliterate tortuous subcutaneous veins
In February, at the conference in Dubai, Mr Sergei Dergachev, Phd (Medicine), Head of the Outpatient Surgical Department, a vascular surgeon delivered a poster report on ‘Using endovenous laser obliteration for tortuous tributaries of the main veins (SKEWER-obliteration)’.
He presented an original technique (an application for a discovery 2021138158 dated 21 December 2021 was submitted), which uses a specially designed optical fibre with a conically sharpened working end in the form of a stylet. The tortuous vein is strung on an optical fibre like a skewer (SKEWER), after which laser obliteration of the vein is performed.
The laser heating element generates radiation, the blood heats up. Thermal energy is transferred along the inner surface of the vessel, following all its curves and protrusions evenly warming the vessel intima avoiding deep damaging.
The Outpatient Surgery Department team of our Clinic examined 256 patients who underwent 288 SKEWER obliterations (62% of females and 38% of males). The patient observation period ranged from one to 24 months; the depth of thermal damage to the vein during surgery was determined by biopsy.
The SKEWER-method requires no ancillary tools but an optic fibre laser. It has low trauma, causes no complications in the form of bleeding and haematoma, and allows of a good cosmetic effect significantly reducing the treatment time. Due to all of these, it is indispensable in the practice of a present-day phlebologist.