CCSVI Restenosis

A small percentage of patients treated using venoplasty experience re-stenosis of the veins. Here's what you need to know.

What to do with new or worsening symptoms after venoplasty?

If your pre-venoplasty symptoms return within hours of your procedure you might be having a thrombosis.  Call your IR immediately for advise. If he’s not available call your health care provider or go to the emergency room. You don’t want to take chances with a blood clot.

Otherwise, the first thing to do is make sure you don’t have metabolic imbalance or an infection (ie UTI).  In particular you should probably have a blood and urine test.

If you are feeling better after the venoplasty and days/weeks go by and you revert to pre venoplasty level of function you might berestenosing.  It takes a while for the body to adjust to change in flow and symptoms may wax and wane during this period. You should give it 4-6 weeks before considering another procedure. In the meantime make sure you are being as diligent as possible on your diet, supplementation and  lifestyle changes. Email your patient advocate with any concerns.

How do I know if I've Re-stenosed? If your symptoms/dysfunction were noticeably improved for a month or more and then have reverted to how they were prior to treatment for two weeks you should be retested and re-treated. Please contact the Hubbard Foundation immediately to schedule.

If your symptoms/dysfunction improved only slighty and only for a brief period, you should wait at least 3- 4 months before considering a 'tune-up.' This is because you can only have 3-4 repeat venoplasties before considering a stent that has increased risks, and because it may take this long for CNS flow changes to stabilize. On post-venoplasty testing we have seen that sometimes flow may even appear worse during this stabilization process.

If your symptoms/dysfunction get worse after the venoplasty and continue to worsen over the next 4 weeks, you should be restested and re-treated, although at this point have only seen a few cases like this and so do not know if repeat venoplasty will help.