Hello, I'm Doctor Alexandre Amato, vascular surgeon at Instituto Amato, and today I'm going to talk about the symptoms of a blocked vein. First, I have to remember the arterial system, the circulation, how it works, right? We have arteries, we have veins, we have lymphatic vessels, these are all the systems that the vascular surgeon takes care of.
And so, when we're talking about a blocked vein, people often end up using the word vein, but it's actually an artery, or they're trying to talk about a lymphatic system. So I'm going to talk about everything that could fall into the category of clogged veins. So, when we are talking about arteries, arteries are the vessels that take blood to the periphery, which take blood with oxygen to the muscles, to the tip of the toe, to irrigate and nourish with nutrients and oxygen necessary for them to stay alive, right?
Then the arteries carry the clean blood to the periphery. When we have an obstruction in this artery, we will have several symptoms and the obstruction can be acute or chronic. What is this?
An acute obstruction is when it happens suddenly, there was nothing in the artery and suddenly there is an obstruction, there is a blockage. And a chronic obstruction is when it happens slowly throughout life. So an acute obstruction that occurs abruptly will lead to the six main symptoms, the six P's, a mnemonic rule, right?
That helps us remember what the symptoms of an acute obstruction are. So the first is pain, which would be pain, is the main thing. Pain will always happen, it is one of the first things to happen when you have an arterial blockage.
Then we have pallor, the skin turns white. There is paresthesia, which starts to feel like a tingling sensation, changes in sensitivity. There is also the absence of a pulse.
The absence of a pulse, obviously, if the artery is blocked it will no longer pulse. There is poikilothermy, which is the change in temperature, it is a beautiful name simply to fit in with the rule of the six P's. So the decrease in temperature, if it clogs the blood and it doesn't reach the periphery, this region will become cold.
So you can put your hand in and feel that it's cold. And the last is paralysis, when you lose movement in that limb. So this happens in an acute obstruction.
Now when we have a chronic obstruction, there is another symptom that also has a cute name, which is intermittent claudication. Lameness means limping, so you'll end up. .
. In fact, although it means limping, it's not really limping. It means that you will walk, feel pain and then stop because of that pain.
So this is the main symptom of chronic obstruction, when this artery slowly closes. So I'm talking about blocked veins, but I mentioned arteries. Now the lymphatic system, the lymphatic vessels, if there is an obstruction, will normally be swollen.
That's the main symptom. Now I'm going to really talk about clogged veins. When a vein clogs, the vein is the one that is responsible for bringing blood back to the heart.
So while the arteries take it, the veins bring back the blood. This blood will fall into the heart, from there it will go to the lungs, it will be oxygenated and then it will return to the arteries. So the veins, they bring this blood through some mechanisms.
The main mechanism is the calf muscles. The calf muscles, when they contract, will pump blood back up. So what happens when we have a blocked vein?
Firstly, we have to know when it clogs. Normally, blockage occurs due to venous thrombosis. So this thrombosis is a clot that will obstruct this vein, as if it were a cork.
And then what will appear? Swelling and pain will appear. These are the main symptoms of a blocked vein caused by venous thrombosis.
Venous thrombosis is acute. As I said before, in arteries, acute is something that happens abruptly. So in acute venous thrombosis, these symptoms appear very quickly.
So there will be pain and swelling and the tendency is for progression. Now there is a situation that is chronic thrombosis and other injuries that can lead to chronic obstruction as well. So this can lead to more prolonged pain and swelling, something that lasts longer.
But basically the main symptoms are pain and swelling. But there is another symptom that is not so common, which is called venous claudication. Again, come on, lameness is limping.
So it would be limping for a venous reason. So this venous claudication is not that common, it will be a much higher intensity pain and it improves when elevating the legs. Normally it is triggered by physical exercise, so when walking, walking a lot, this pain comes followed by swelling and if you lie down and put your legs up, this tends to improve.
So this is venous claudication, it is typical of obstructive venous disease. Now, when we're talking about varicose veins, it's not obstruction, okay guys? That's reflux, it's blood that should be rising, but is actually falling.
This is not an obstruction, the reflux is simply a misdirection of the blood. This can also be called venous incompetence, there is also the situation of failure of the venous pump, which would be the calf muscles and all of this will also lead to swelling, pain , but it is a different pain, it is pain, but a feeling of heaviness, tiredness in the legs and all of this leading to the formation of varicose veins, the dilation of these veins. So in short, if you have any of these symptoms, such as pain, swelling, heaviness in your legs, tiredness, hair loss, hair starting to fall out in that area, wound, leg ulcer, tingling, difficulty walking, redness on your leg, anything of these symptoms, I really suggest that you consult a vascular surgeon to identify what your problem really is and treat it appropriately.
Among all the diseases I mentioned, some of them are very serious and must be treated early to avoid a worse problem. Did you like our video? Subscribe to our channel, share with your friends and see you next time!
