Endoluminal vein laser

ELVeS Radial - minimally invasive laser therapy for varicose and diseased veins.

What is the principle of action?

This state-of-the-art technology enables minimally invasive endoluminal treatment of insufficient veins - safely and easily! More information about minimally invasive laser therapy for insufficient veins.

The basic principle of this procedure is the treatment of pathologically dilated veins from the inside by means of thermal energy. This is released in the form of laser light at the tip of a probe, heats the vein wall and glues the diseased vein. This entire treatment takes only 30-45 minutes. The patient can resume normal activities shortly thereafter.

This minimally invasive  surgery can be performed without general anesthesia, in a modern form of local anesthesia the gentle so-called tumescent anesthesia.

A special diode laser (ELVeS Radial) generates light energy at the tip of a flexible special fiber. This heats the vein wall to such an extent that it shrinks and thereby adheres. In this surgical technique, the diseased vein is located at the lowest point of the dilatation, usually on the upper or also on the lower leg, near the knee, via a tiny microsurgical slit about 1-1.5 mm wide, and then, under ultrasound control, the thin flexible laser probe (with the laser light at the tip) is pushed upwards in the dilated vein until the beginning of the diseased varicose vein ("crosse") is reached. The laser is not yet activated at this point. However, its red marking light (pilot beam), which shines at the tip, reveals its exact position at any moment. This can be precisely tracked and monitored in the ultrasound image.

When the laser probe reaches the end of the diseased vein, usually located in the groin or popliteal fossa, the laser in the probe is activated, it   is retracted and millimeter by millimeter a precisely dosed laser energy is delivered.

By continuing to slowly retract the laser probe, one is left with a heated and shrinking vein, which over time becomes stuck or scarred and is broken down by the body itself. This shrinking process can be followed at any moment in the ultrasound image.

The advantages of this principle are the combination of minimal invasiveness with an excellent cosmetic result and an unbeatably short healing time.

The large incisions in the groin and back of the knee that were previously needed to pull out the diseased varicose vein are now eliminated. Therefore, about 85% of our patients can usually resume their normal activities within 1-2 days after surgery.

Due to the "heat treatment" of the vein, there is hardly any bruising or major wound pain, at most and relatively rarely a pulling sensation along the shrunken vein as in the case of phlebitis, which is a typical sign of a normal reaction of the vein to the heat treatment.

However, even a laser fiber, no matter how flexible, cannot be advanced into very strongly curved side branches. In order to nevertheless achieve an optimal aesthetic result, we usually remove the side branches, if these are also diseased, microsurgically with access via approx. 1.5 mm wide "mini incisions", which usually heal without scars.