Diagnosing Venous and Arterial Issues is Easier Than Ever!

www.modernheartandvascular.com
- Welcome back to "Great Day."
When people have tired legs that feel heavy or have spasms
many times they think it's a muscular problem.
When they have ulcers that won't heal and discoloration that looks like a bruise
they might think it's a dermatology problem.
Instead, for millions of people it's a symptom of vein disease.
Joining us with a simple, non-invasive way to diagnose and treat the problem
is Dr. Rajiv Agarwal with Modern Heart and Vascular Institute, good morning.
- Good morning, Deborah, how you doing?
- Good, all right, the role of course, of veins is so important
that when something shuts down, when you have vein disease,
or poor circulation, it shows up somewhere.
- So there are two types of blood vessels that we have in our body.
First one, are arteries which take blood from the heart to the toes,
and then veins bring them back.
Veins are just more visible.
People see the blue color on the skin, they're usually seeing the veins,
and we have about 60,000 miles of blood vessels in our body.
-60,000 miles, that's a lot.
- That is a lot.
Arteries, the basic symptoms that you might have a problem with your arteries.
- So the key there, Deborah, is with arterial disease you have symptoms with walking.
So if you get fatigue, tiredness, burning, heaviness in your legs with walking.
So some patients say, "When I'm walking at Walmart, halfway my legs hurt."
Or, "When I'm walking to the mailbox," those are more arterial symptoms.
Whereas venous symptoms tend to happen more at rest.
People will say at night or when I'm sitting down or lying down I get cramps,
or charley horses, restless legs, and swelling, and heaviness.
So the distinction is with walking or at rest
and that's what we want our viewers to learn about that.
- So what are the risk factors for arterial disease?
- Arterial disease is more like heart disease so anyone with diabetes,
blood pressure, cholesterol elevation, smoking, obesity,
lack of exercise, stress, so anything that causes blockages anywhere
you get blockages in the arteries.
Venous is very different.
Venous tends to be more of just gravity dependent.
So people that are not moving around a lot, doctors, nurses,
teachers, flight attendants, store clerks that are sitting or standing
for prolonged periods of time.
Get that in obesity, hormones those, are big risk factor as well.
- So anybody, if any of these symptoms sounded familiar
or they're in that high risk group, the best thing to do is to get it diagnosed
to figure out exactly what's going on.
And that diagnosis for you is non-invasive and you can do that fairly quickly.
- It's very simple, Deborah.
Step one is, we have them come in, we talk to them
and see what symptoms they have.
Second, we do a very focused, thorough physical examination of their legs and their heart
and try to figure out, is it more arterial, is it more venous?
And then we do very limited testing which usually includes a painless, non-invasive,
simple ultrasound that tells us where the problem is and how our approach will be to fix it.
Very easy, people think that it's gonna be painful, or this, or, no, it's very simple,
takes 10-15 minutes and we get an answer.
- And even the fix today is different.
This is when you become, not only a cardiologist, but also a plumber
using a Roto-Rooter technique in some cases.
- Yes, yes.
So, we have a full team and the arterial side is what you treat with Roto-Rooter.
So if someone has a blockage you bring them in for an outpatient minor procedure, painless,
they go home same day and you open up the blockage literally using
a Roto-Rooter drill type of machine.
And sometimes they need a stent, sometimes they don't.
For vein disease it's very different, that's done in the office,
takes 5, 10, 15 minutes if needed.
Modern Heart and Vascular Institute in Humble, TX, Katy, TX & Cleveland, TX is a state-of-the-art cardiovascular practice equipped with cutting-edge diagnostic tools used to assess heart health and diagnose cardiac conditions in the earliest of stages.
We specialize in all aspects of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. We diagnose and treats arrhythmias, congestive heart failure, coronary artery disease, peripheral arterial disease, vein disease, and high blood pressure. The practice also expertly manages cardiac conditions in people with diabetes, high blood pressure, kidney disease, obesity, family history of premature heart disease, etc.
Modern Cardiovascular Care for Modern Patients using Modern Technology

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- Welcome back to "Great Day."
When people have tired legs that feel heavy or have spasms
many times they think it's a muscular problem.
When they have ulcers that won't heal and discoloration that looks like a bruise
they might think it's a dermatology problem.
Instead, for millions of people it's a symptom of vein disease.
Joining us with a simple, non-invasive way to diagnose and treat the problem
is Dr. Rajiv Agarwal with Modern Heart and Vascular Institute, good morning.
- Good morning, Deborah, how you doing?
- Good, all right, the role of course, of veins is so important
that when something shuts down, when you have vein disease,
or poor circulation, it shows up somewhere.
- So there are two types of blood vessels that we have in our body.
First one, are arteries which take blood from the heart to the toes,
and then veins bring them back.
Veins are just more visible.
People see the blue color on the skin, they're usually seeing the veins,
and we have about 60,000 miles of blood vessels in our body.
-60,000 miles, that's a lot.
- That is a lot.
Arteries, the basic symptoms that you might have a problem with your arteries.
- So the key there, Deborah, is with arterial disease you have symptoms with walking.
So if you get fatigue, tiredness, burning, heaviness in your legs with walking.
So some patients say, "When I'm walking at Walmart, halfway my legs hurt."
Or, "When I'm walking to the mailbox," those are more arterial symptoms.
Whereas venous symptoms tend to happen more at rest.
People will say at night or when I'm sitting down or lying down I get cramps,
or charley horses, restless legs, and swelling, and heaviness.
So the distinction is with walking or at rest
and that's what we want our viewers to learn about that.
- So what are the risk factors for arterial disease?
- Arterial disease is more like heart disease so anyone with diabetes,
blood pressure, cholesterol elevation, smoking, obesity,
lack of exercise, stress, so anything that causes blockages anywhere
you get blockages in the arteries.
Venous is very different.
Venous tends to be more of just gravity dependent.
So people that are not moving around a lot, doctors, nurses,
teachers, flight attendants, store clerks that are sitting or standing
for prolonged periods of time.
Get that in obesity, hormones those, are big risk factor as well.
- So anybody, if any of these symptoms sounded familiar
or they're in that high risk group, the best thing to do is to get it diagnosed
to figure out exactly what's going on.
And that diagnosis for you is non-invasive and you can do that fairly quickly.
- It's very simple, Deborah.
Step one is, we have them come in, we talk to them
and see what symptoms they have.
Second, we do a very focused, thorough physical examination of their legs and their heart
and try to figure out, is it more arterial, is it more venous?
And then we do very limited testing which usually includes a painless, non-invasive,
simple ultrasound that tells us where the problem is and how our approach will be to fix it.
Very easy, people think that it's gonna be painful, or this, or, no, it's very simple,
takes 10-15 minutes and we get an answer.
- And even the fix today is different.
This is when you become, not only a cardiologist, but also a plumber
using a Roto-Rooter technique in some cases.
- Yes, yes.
So, we have a full team and the arterial side is what you treat with Roto-Rooter.
So if someone has a blockage you bring them in for an outpatient minor procedure, painless,
they go home same day and you open up the blockage literally using
a Roto-Rooter drill type of machine.
And sometimes they need a stent, sometimes they don't.
For vein disease it's very different, that's done in the office,
takes 5, 10, 15 minutes if needed.
Initially, we always ask them to do more conservative measures
like try compression stockings or elevate their legs,
but for a lot of people that doesn't work.
Imagine having to wear extra clothing, compression stockings in Houston summer weather,
so, they come back to us and say, "No, no, I don't want to do that,
I've tried it,, it's not working, give me a cure."
And that's what we can do non-surgically is give them a cure
and their symptoms are, voila, gone forever.
- Another symptom that a lot of people deal with,
it keeps them up at night is restless leg syndrome.
- And a lot of people are misdiagnosed that they think it's restless leg syndrome
where they're given medications for it, or it's neuropathy; or muscle pain,
it's really from their circulation.
The goal is not to just find their symptoms and give them a pill,
our goal is, you have symptoms, what's the root cause of it?
And make it go away.
For example, my mom, she was given two medications for restless leg syndrome
and we did some simple screening on her and it was her veins.
We fixed her veins and for five years now
she's been on no medications for her legs and she's had no symptoms in her legs.
So let's not fall in the trap of just taking pills for everything,
let's try to find the root cause and make it go away.
- You're a good doctor and a good son, thank you very much.
- Thank you, Deborah.
- All right, to book an appointment with a board-certified cardiologist
at Modern Heart and Vascular Institute visit them online
at modernheartandvascular.com or give them a call at 832-644-8930.
Again, that's 832-644-8930.
They accept most major insurances including Medicare.
Appointments fill up fast so contact them today.
And by the way, they have doctors who are fluent in Spanish as well.
It only takes a minute to schedule a vein screening
and it could save your legs and make getting around a lot more comfortable.