Phlebology
June 26, 2011 at 3:08pm
Let's face it. Phlebology, the diagnosis and treatment of venous disease, is just not as appealing as Neurology. The word phlebology is hard to spell, hard to pronounce. Reminiscent of phelgm, phlegmatic, other unsexy words that start with phl.
The root of this word, phleb, is from the Latin fluere, meaning "to flow"
Truth is, phlebology is turning out to be a very, very important medical practice. Veins, once thought to be uninvolved in disease, are turning out to be equally important as their brother arteries. Maybe more so.
Veins take deoxygenated blood back to the heart. If they are blocked, blood flow and hemodynamics are altered. The influx of blood from the heart via the arteries is changed. In the liver, in the kidneys, in the brain. Any organ can be affected. We think of varicose veins when we hear venous disease...again, not sexy. But veins run throughout the body, and if they are malformed, it can ruin our organs.
I got to meet and listen to a premiere phlebologist in Bologna in 2009. Dr. Byung B. Lee was at the first symposium organized by Dr. Zamboni. Dr. Lee talked about his introduction to venous disease as a liver transplant surgeon.
Here are my notes from the conference. Dr. Lee on venous malformations, in his own words.
Byung B. Lee- Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington-Embryology of the venous system and origin of truncular venous malformations
Dr. Lee began as a transplant surgeon and admitted that his first liver transplant was a disaster. He learned the hard way that the vena cava is not just a single trunk, and a venous malformation was a most fearful thing, and a nightmare to a transplant surgeon.
"We doctors have a tendency to specialize in our narrow fields, but I want to appeal to all of us to take a bird’s eye view. We need to look at the whole picture. We now understand the lower venous system, but it has taken us much too long to bring this knowledge all the way up to the neck and all the way to the junction of the superior vena cava.
