Welcome!
Hello and welcome to the Chronic Venous Disease Forum! This site is dedicated to the discussion of all things venous. This forum wil provide a space for those involved in the treatment of chronic venous disease and venous hypertension, with all its intricate, challenging, and sometimes frustrating manifestations, to discuss their thoughts, insights, treatment philosophies and methods, as well as provide tips, tricks, and techniques to further benefit the phlebology community as a whole in our treatment. Please feel free to post comments and opinions, within the boundries of good taste of course, ask questions, or present an interesting case.
I would like to start off by posing a question for my colleagues. When treating a patient with a venous ulcer, the ultimate solution is treating their underlying vein disease of courese. What role do the short stretch wraps play in treatment of this manifestation of chronic venous insufficiency? Obviously, if their is signifficant edema present or the patient is having pain in the affected area, the wraps can be of great benefit. If neither of these conditions are present however, do the wraps aid in the actual healing process? I understand the physiology of the calf muscle pump as the “peripheral heart” and how the short stretch wraps are superior to traditional elastic wraps due to their augmentation of the systolic phase of the pump without compromising the diastolic phase. In the absence of signifficant edema to improve, is there enough of an effect on the underlying venous disease to aid in healing the ulcer, or is doing short stretch wraps just a waste of the physician and patients time and treating the underlying vein disease is all that matters?
Again, welcome all and I appreciate any replies on the above question
Sean McWilliams M.D.
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