Glue hailed as breakthrough treatment for varicose vein sufferers

A FAST-ACTING glue is being hailed as a breakthrough treatment for varicose veins.

VenaSeal is injected into diseased veins so blood is re-routed into healthier veins.

Quicker than existing treatments, it requires less local anaesthetic, and patients can immediately resume normal activities, specialists claim.

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Clinical trials of the medical adhesive, developed by US-based company Sapheon, have so far yielded a 100 per cent success rate.

Now a Europe-wide study on 120 patients is being led by specialists at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Imperial College, London.

Professor Alun Davies, who has treated 12 patients with his colleague Ian Franklin at London’s Charing Cross hospital, said: “It does seem to work.

“So far it has been very straightforward and all the patients have been fine. One had a complication of inflammation on the skin but that soon settled down.

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“However, these are very early results, and how it will compare with other procedures longer-term is difficult to tell.”

Millions of Britons suffer from the unsightly, blueish veins that bulge just below the skin’s surface, typically in the lower leg. Varicose veins are caused by faulty valves that stop the body from pumping blood up the legs against gravity.

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