Bangalore May 4, 2021: A 43-year-old teacher was successfully treated for a rare vascular disorder called May Thurner’s syndrome (MTS), which she battled for the past 10 year. The patient suffered from recurrent swelling, pain, and ulcer wounds on her left leg for many years, despite undergoing medical intervention for varicose veins in other hospitals. When the patient had no respite from the recurrent ulcers, she approached the Dept. of Vascular & endovascular surgery of BGS Gleneagles Hospital. After the initial evaluation and examination, the patient was advised MR venography, which revealed that she was suffering from May-Thurner’s syndrome. This was the cause for the recurrent ulcers. Lack of immediate medical intervention could have worsened the ulcer and most importantly also could result in clotting of blood in the veins (DVT), eventually causing pulmonary embolism. To avoid such complications Dr Rahul. N. S, Vascular & Endovascular surgeon, advised the patient to undergo Venoplasty stenting of the left iliac vein, which helped her recover from recurrent ulcer and get back to her normal life.
Ms Sunita (Name changed) a 43-year-old teacher from Tumkur was diagnosed with varicose veins 10 years back. She used to get severe pain, swelling and recurrent ulcers on her left leg despite regular dressings and several medications. Patient was depressed as it affected her social life and was on regular dressings for almost 8 years. Many medical practitioners advised her to undergo repeated doppler scans to identify the cause but was undetected.
Ms Sunita (Name changed) approached Dr Rahul. N. S, Vascular & Endovascular surgeon from BGS Gleneagles Hospital for help in the year 2018. Looking at the swelling and severe ulcer wounds on her left leg, the doctor advised her to go through MR venography, (which is used to evaluate abnormalities in the veins). After examining her reports, doctor learned that the patient was suffering from May Thurner’s Syndrome in which, the right iliac artery puts pressure on the left iliac vein causing narrowing of the vein. Further delay in medical intervention to treat the left iliac vein would have caused disturbances in the blood flow, leading to Deep Vein Thrombosis.
Dr Kiran Kumar, HOD Medical Services, BGS Gleneagles Hospital says, “MTS is found 3 times more common in women than men. In most cases this syndrome occurs due to 5-7% of the venous outflow problems in the left leg. May Thurners syndrome cannot be prevented as it is an anatomical abnormality. However, the severe complications of the syndrome can be prevented by early clinical evaluation and management.”
Post learning her condition the doctor and the team decided to treat her by removing the block in her deep veins. The patient underwent Venoplasty stenting of the left iliac vein, in which a balloon angioplasty procedure was done to restore the proper blood flow. This procedure is done under local anaesthesia. It was a minimally invasive procedure which lasted only for 1 hour.
Dr Rahul NS, Vascular and Endovascular Surgeon, BGS Gleneagles Hospital says, “Vein stenting requires a proper understanding of the venous anatomy and clinical acumen. Right knowledge of the size of the veins and anatomical variants is important to prevent rupture, which is uncommon but life threatening. It is important for the patients to be aware that varicose veins is just a part of a broader pathology called “Chronic venous insufficiency” and not just cosmetic management of the prominent veins. Management of varicose veins requires thorough knowledge of the deep vein systems too. “Vascular & Endovascular surgeons” are the only specialists who have expertise clinical evaluation as well as training in both minimally invasive and open surgical procedures. “Treat the patient, not the reports” holds perfectly good for such patients.
Dr Rahul. N. S, Vascular & Endovascular surgeon who spearheaded the surgery with the support from Cath lab and the nursing staff made the minimal invasive surgery possible.
The patient was discharged the next day after the procedure and adequate medications. The wound healed in 2 weeks and the patient was able to get back to her routine life confidently. The patient is doing good and is ulcer free for the past 2.5 years.
About BGS Gleneagles Hospital –
BGS Gleneagles Hospital located at Kengeri, is a state-of-the-art, NABH facility with expertise in multi-disciplinary tertiary specialties. The hospital is one of the largest of its kind in Bengaluru and consists 6 operation theatres, most advanced imaging facilities and a modern Transplant ICU. The hospital caters to several key specialties including Oncology, Neurosurgery, Liver diseases and various others. BGS Gleneagles Hospital caters to several overseas patients from around the world suffering from various disorders such as Liver ailments, Kidney failures, Breast Cancer, Leukaemia, Neurological disorders amongst others.
Gleneagles Hospitals has multi-super specialty hospitals in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Mumbai. The brand is the most preferred hospital group for multi-organ transplants in the Asia region. The parent entity of Gleneagles Hospitals is IHH Healthcare, a leading premium integrated healthcare provider with a network of 84 hospitals and more than 16,000 licensed beds. It is one of the largest healthcare groups in the world by market capitalisation and is listed in the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia and Main Board of SGX-ST. IHH is a leading player in the home markets of Malaysia, Singapore, Turkey and India, and in their key growth markets of China and Hong Kong.