High tie and stripping of long saphenous vein

Hello, a short video on hight iron stripping of the long saphenous vein. This procedure has been around for a very long time indeed. We use it to treat varicose veins in the leg, done under general anaesthesia, most likely, and the aim is to remove the refluxing long saphenous vein by which I mean the vein in which the valves are no longer working. Two parts to the procedure. The first part is you disconnect the long saphenous or great saphenous vein from the deep veins in the groin with a cut in the groin. That's called saphenofemoral disconnection. Once that's done you can proceed to then stripping the long saphenous vein which has been disconnected in the groin out of the leg. As I've said it's a general anaesthetic but it can be done under spinal. The long saphenous vein was the superficial vein running on the inside of the leg that we mentioned in another video. Apart from the cut in the groin there'll be a small cut around the knee area. That small cut in the knee area is to allow the vein that's been disconnected in the groin to be stripped out. There are side branches of the vein which need to be disconnected in so much as can be visualised. The rest of the side branches which can join the vein are essentially stripped out when the vein itself is stripped. This stripping process can lead to bleeding and bruising and there certainly will be some of this and everything should probably return normal within four to six weeks after the operation. The wounds are closed with stitches. Sometimes smaller lumpy veins in the calf and thigh can be removed with extra small cuts and those veins pulled out which is a procedure called phlebectomy or vein avulsion. At the end of the procedure we generally bandage the leg up to support the leg while it's healing and reduce the bleeding and bruising. Complications can include infection of the wounds, blood clots including DVT and PE and bleeding. When you strip the vein you can potentially damage a nerve that runs along with the vein and cause nerve injury. That can if it does happen cause numbness or pain on the inside of the leg. Recurrence is also a small possibility.