Are Painful & Swollen Legs

Affecting Your Quality of Life?

USATherm is initially focusing on improving the care of patients with chronic venous insufficiency

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Millions Suffer From Venous Insufficiency

You’re not alone – chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) is a highly prevalent condition, and it is estimated that 47 million people in the U.S. are living with the disease.  Many people do not realize they have CVI, with only 3 million people actually diagnosed.

Furthermore, only 1.4 million have visited a vein specialist and 500,000 have been treated.  CVI is more prevalent in women and its incidence increases significantly with age. It accounts for an estimated $59 billion in healthcare costs and 2% of the national healthcare budget.

Sources: NHANES III, 2018 CMS PUF Data

About Chronic Venous Insufficiency

What is Chronic Venous Insufficiency?

Chronic Venous Insufficiency (CVI)

CVI occurs when the veins in your legs do not allow blood to flow back up to the heart. Normally, valves in the veins function to help return blood flows towards the heart. However, when the valves weaken and stop closing, blood can also flow backwards. This can cause blood to collect in your legs, which weakens the vein walls and leads to varicose veins.

If left untreated, CVI is a progressive disease that often lead to leg ulceration.  The disease bears a large financial burden and is responsible for $59 billion in healthcare costs which is approximately 2% of the national healthcare budget.

Sources: NHANES III, 2018 CMS PUF Data

Common Symptoms

The combination of symptoms and the fact that they last for extended periods of time can lead to a poor quality of life. This can be further exacerbated by decreased mobility and a poor quality of life. Symptoms of chronic venous insufficiency may include:

  • Swelling of the legs or ankles
  • Itching and pain in legs 
  • Tight feeling in calves
  • Pain when walking
  • Varicose veins in the lower extremities
  • Leg cramps and/or restless legs syndrome
  • Skin changes such as dark and dry skin near the ankles
  • Painful leg cramps
  • Leg ulcerations
Common Causes

There are several causes and risk factors that can lead to venous insufficiency:

  • A deep vein thrombosis (blood clot) can damage the valves in the veins, leading to incompetent valves
  • Lack of exercise
  • Sitting or standing for long periods of time
  • Gender – women are more likely to get CVI than men
  • Obesity
  • Over the age of 50
  • Pregnancy
  • Family history of CVI
  • History of blood clots
  • Smoking
How is Venous Insufficiency Diagnosed?
Venous insufficiency is diagnosed using duplex ultrasound, which images the blood flow in the legs and can check the speed and direction of blood flow. USATherm’s Thermpix is indicated for use as adjunctive diagnostic imaging and can help the clinician identify areas to image under ultrasound or other imaging. X-rays or other types of imaging may be used in addition to ultrasound to check for other causes of leg swelling and pain.
Current Treatment Options

Compression Stockings.   The first line of treatment for venous insufficiency is compression stockings.  These are elastic socks that put graduated pressure on your legs to help blood move upwards towards the heart.

Medications.   A doctor may prescribe an antibiotic to treat infections or leg ulcers, or to help prevent blood clots.

Sclerotherapy.   For this procedure a physician with inject a sclerosant (drug) into the diseased vein which causes the vein to scar and reroute blood to healthier veins. The scarred vein is eventually absorbed by the body and eliminated completely.  Sclerotherapy is typically used for smaller veins.

Endovenous thermal ablation.  A device that uses high-frequency radio waves or a laser is used to heat the inside of the vein and close it.

Microfoam treatment.   A needle is used to inject foamed polidocanol into the vein to destroy the vein wall and close it.

VenaSeal.  A catheter is inserted into the vein to deliver a medical grade adhesive that closes off the vein.

Ligation and stripping.  The great saphenous vein is surgically removed.

Ambulatory phlebectomy.  Small incisions are made and the vein is pulled out using surgical tools.

 

About USATherm

USATherm was founded by Dr. Ariel Soffer and Dr. David Wright, two thought leaders in vascular medicine. They were seeking a more efficient approach to screen for chronic venous insufficiency and were ultimately led to the idea to develop thermography technology that could visualize insufficient vessels and to correlate them to ultrasound.

 We are a global leader in developing thermography technology to view, measure, and record heat patterns and variations in the human body. The ThermPix™ technology features the world’s first portable, affordable clinical thermovisual camera.

​The vision for USATherm is to establish thermographic imaging as an element in the standard engagement protocol for patients with venous disease and to eventually develop standalone diagnostic devices.

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