A group of army and civilian medics from New Zealand spent time recently in the Cook Islands assisting medical professionals there to catch up on a backlog of cases that hadn't been dealt with. Nearly eight different surgeries were performed by the medics in order to get doctors caught up on their work. A significant portion of these procedures were vein treatment procedures.
The medics all gathered together in one room to complete a large number of medical and dental surgeries during the time that they were there. The most common procedures besides dental procedures were gall bladder surgeries, thyroid removal and varicose vein treatment. People who had been waiting a long time for these surgeries were rapidly treated with the aid of this group.
Reports from the field indicate that the vein treatment was primarily vein stripping. This technique is not considered the most modern of options so it's curious as to why a more modern procedure, such as VNUS Closure Fast, wasn't used here. This type of treatment would've saved time during the procedures and reduced the recovery time for patients. The patients are likely just happy to have finally had the surgery, though.
Question of the Day: What causes a backlog in varicose vein treatment procedures?
