Covid-19 and vascular conditions

Varicose veins will affect between 20-25% of women and 10-15% of men over the age of 15 in the UK at some point in their lives, causing pain, fatigue, venous ulcers and cosmesis. 3-6% of people who have varicose veins will go on to develop venous ulcers which are open and painful sores, susceptible to infection, and complications such as loss of mobility and osteomyelitis (bone infection). However, the vast majority of sufferer’s face misdiagnosis or a lack of treatment options.

Varicose veins, when present in areas of the body apart from the leg, can often be misdiagnosed. As many of 30% of women who visit a gynaecologist with pelvic pain will have pelvic congestive syndrome (pelvic varicose veins) and get told there is nothing wrong with them, or that they have endometriosis. As it is estimated that up to 15% of women between 20 to 50 have pelvic congestive syndrome, this means that 0.5 – 1.5 million women do not get the right diagnosis or treatment in the UK.

For those in the UK suffering from varicose veins, the NHS can only offer the most basic care, if at all. Currently, the NHS does not employ specialist vein surgeons (phlebologists), instead only offering vascular surgeons who work mainly with the arteries – doing bypasses, aneurysms and carotid surgery – very different from modern local anaesthetic walk-in walk-out venous treatments. This can leave many people affected by varicose veins with limited, or non-existent treatment options, something which the COVID-19 pandemic will have exacerbated due to low resources and a priority of aiding those afflicted with the virus.

Aston spoke to Professor Mark Whiteley to discuss the research in further detail.