About CVI

What is CVI?

Arteries bring oxygen-rich blood from your heart to the rest of your body and veins return oxygen-poor blood back to your heart. When your leg veins cannot pump enough blood back to your heart, you have chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) also known as chronic venous disease (CVD).

What Causes CVI?

CVI is caused over a long-term period by higher than normal blood pressure within the leg veins which can lead to valve damage. There are also cases where certain valves are congenitally defective. Other causes include Phlebitis, which occurs when a superficial or deep vein is inflamed and swollen, and Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) occuring when a blood clot blocks blood from flowing toward the heart.

How is it Treated?

The first steps of treatment are to decrease the pain or disability the patient is experiencing.

This can most efficiently be done with a compressible system prescribed by us. It will include elastic stockings that squeeze the extremity which in turn squeezes the veins which should stop excess blood from flowing backward. The affected extremity will often see the healing of skin sores in CVI patients. If the patient is a lifetime candidate for this system, the stocking should keep skin sores from returning.

Compression is a common form of treatment for lymphedema as well. Compressing the affected limb encourages the lymphatic fluids to move toward your torso in a more normal pattern of circulation. Wrapping your arm, leg or torso tightly with an elastic bandage or wearing a compression garment keeps continuous pressure on the area.

A more comprehensive form of compression therapy, is pneumatic compression or a lymphedema pump. This is prescribed by you, but supplied and serviced by MCB-DME. The pump involves sleeves that inflate and stimulate the proper flow of lymphatic fluid. It is FDA approved and currently the best compressible system on the market and with MCB-DME’s support, it is also the best value.