Understanding Chronic Venous Insufficiency (CVI)

What Is Chronic Venous Insufficiency (CVI)

Chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) is a form of venous disease and is a common result of valve dysfunction that occurs when veins in your legs are damaged, are too weak to do their job or don’t function properly. Chronic venous insufficiency is a deeper, more serious form of venous disease and is generally characterized as being an advanced stage of venous insufficiency. Chronic venous insufficiency often leads to venous leg ulcers, which represent approximately 70-90% of all chronic wounds. Due to the debilitating effects of chronic wounds, it is very important to understand chronic venous insufficiency and how to prevent, manage and treat it.

Normally, valves in your leg veins keep the blood flowing back up to your heart, but with CVI these veins can’t manage the blood flow as well as they should, and it’s harder for the blood in your legs to return to your heart. The result is that the blood begins to pool in your leg veins, leading to high pressure in the veins which causes pain and swelling, may lead to changes in skin color, and increases the potential for blood clots to form and ulcers to develop on your legs.

CVI can occur in any of your leg veins, such as:

• Deep veins, which are large veins deep in your body that run through your muscle.
• Superficial veins, which are close to the surface of your skin.
• Perforating veins, which are the veins that connect your deep and superficial veins.