Dr. Fernando Munoz of North Ohio Heart Center and Dr. Dvora Nelson of Ohio Vein Solutions traveled to Honduras in late March to serve in a medical mission targeted to treat patients with advanced vein disease.

Thirty-four physicians from all over the United States and Canada volunteered their time and skills to treat over one thousand two hundred patients in one week.

Varicose veins and venous stasis ulcers are caused by venous insufficiency. Venous insufficiency occurs when the vein valves do not function properly and blood flows backwards toward the feet instead of up to the heart. This causes overload in the veins of the leg leading to pain, swelling, heaviness, cramping, and worst of all - leg ulcers.

Once these ulcers develop, they can take a long time to heal. Sixty percent of venous stasis ulcers are present for six months. Eight percent are still present after eight years. The most concerning statistic is the fact that once these ulcers finally heal, forty-five percent of them re-occur only to repeat the prolonged healing cycle again. Venous stasis ulcers are a challenging problem that now, with minimally invasive techniques both heal more quickly and are less likely to recur.

Minimally invasive techniques have literally revolutionized the way venous disease is managed. Traditional surgery requires general anesthesia and a prolonged recovery. Now patients can undergo minimally invasive procedures that permit return to work that very same day with better long-term success than open surgery. Excellent care can even be provided in outpatient clinics in third-world countries.

The vein medical mission is coordinated by the Hackett-Hemwall Foundation and serves two purposes. One goal is to treat those individuals with leg ulcers and severe varicose veins who do not have money or access to medical care. The other purpose of the mission is to train the physicians of Honduras to treat their own people so vein care can be provided throughout the year.

Dr. Nelson served as assistant site director in La Ceiba, Honduras for her second tour on this mission. As assistant director she was responsible for both the care of the Honduran patients as well as the training of the physicians to help fine tune their vein skills and techniques.

The severity of disease and the needs of the Honduran people are profound. Among the many patients treated by Dr. Munoz, one was a Honduran man with a leg ulcer that has been present for twenty-seven years. Using one of the nine ultrasound machines donated for the week by Sonosite, abnormal veins were injected with a sclerosing agent under ultrasound guidance. Destroying the bad veins allows blood to be re-directed to normal veins. When this patient returns for follow-up next year, the ulcer may be healed and he has a great chance of not redeveloping any new ulcers.

Overall this year’s mission was a huge success with record breaking number of patients treated. The long-term goal of the Hackett-Hemwall Foundation is to teach both Honduran physicians and physicians world-wide minimally invasive techniques to treat vein disease. Eventually, patients all over the world will have access to optimal therapy that prevents debilitating leg ulcers and leg pain from varicose veins.

For more information about varicose veins or venous stasis ulcers please feel free to contact Dr. Dvora Nelson of Ohio Vein Solutions at 440-329-7800 or Dr. Fernando Munoz of North Ohio Heart Center at 330-721-2100.