Pelvic vein care, chronic pain and finding out about treatment
Symptomatic pelvis veins are relatively common in women who have had children and may be a cause of chronic pelvic pain. This is called pelvic congestion syndrome. Pelvic varicose veins may be the cause of chronic pelvic pain in up to 30% of women.
Pelvic veins are varicose veins around the uterus and ovaries. Abnormal pelvic veins allow blood to pool in the pelvis, rather than being returned to the heart, and cause pressure symptoms. Sometimes they may escape the pelvis and cause varicose veins around the groin and in the legs.
Some of the symptoms of pelvic veins may include:
- A heavy dragging feeling in the pelvis, worse when sitting
- An urge to pass urine frequently
- Pain during intercourse
- Groin/vulval/labial veins first appearing in pregnancy, improving after birth then coming back in the next pregnancy
- Veins that started in the groin and moved to the upper, inner or back of thighs
- Unexplained pelvic pain even though you’ve been seen by other specialists.
Our dedicated pelvic vein care nurse would be happy to discuss pelvic veins with you. She is available on 0800 45 45 88.
If it is likely that you have pelvic veins, our nurse will discuss this with our specialists. Often you will need an ultrasound scan and possibly a CT scan to confirm the diagnosis. We will organise these investigations for you.
Sometimes other causes of the pain are discovered during these scans. If you do not have pelvic veins our nurse will discharge you back to your GP after discussing your details with our specialist. Sometimes a referral to another specialist will be needed, and this will be done in conjunction with our specialist and your GP.
Next, your treatment plan
If you do have pelvic veins that have been confirmed on the scan(s), an appointment will be made with our specialist and a treatment plan will be recommended. Your diagnosis will most probably be pelvic congestion syndrome or atypical leg varicose veins that emerge from your pelvis.
What is ovarian vein embolisation?
Ovarian vein embolisation is the most common form of treatment for pelvic veins. This is a minimally invasive treatment that is performed under X-ray guidance. The leaking ovarian veins are closed off with small coils and by introducing a vein irritant (sclerotherapy) into the branches that arise from them. This closes the veins so they can no longer enlarge with blood, thus relieving symptoms.
Our team will be back in touch to book your treatment day. Your treatment will be at modern Wakefield Hospital in Wellington and is a day-case procedure.
Pelvic vein care – about the procedure
Once admitted, a sedative will relax you. You will still be awake during the procedure. Local anaesthetic will be injected around the access site. A catheter is inserted into the problematic vein(s). Coils are inserted to block off the varicose veins, which stop blood flowing through them. The number of veins needing to be treated will determine the length of the procedure. Sclerotherapy is usually performed at the same time. A small amount of varicose vein irritant is injected in the varicose veins in the pelvis.
After the procedure
After your procedure you will be monitored for several hours. You may experience some pelvic discomfort and this can be relieved with pain medication. You cannot drive yourself home and may need to stay in Wellington for the night if you are from another region.
Will pelvic vein care service help reduce symptoms?
Overall, the treatment of pelvic veins with coil sealing and sclerotherapy can reduce a woman’s pelvic pain symptoms. Groin varicose veins and atypical leg varicose veins also respond well to this treatment.
Finally, for more information in an earlier blog we talk more about chronic pelvic pain.
