(Editor’s note: Health.Innovate is an occasional feature that will focus on a new medical device or technique being used in the Quad-City region to help improve the health of residents.)

The most common treatment for varicose vein surgery dates back, well, centuries actually, to the time of Julius Caesar, whose uncle had troublesome veins stripped from his legs.

That is according to Dr. Richard Sadler, a thoracic surgeon with the Iowa Vein Clinic in Davenport who has adopted a new way to treat such veins. The Vnus Closure procedure is quick and effective, he said, dubbing it “lunch-hour surgery.”

Varicose veins are diseased and cause the blood to flow backwards. For generations, doctors treated them by making incisions in the groin and calf, and using a tool to actually pull the vein out of the leg.

The closure procedure is different because it utilizes a heated catheter for the job. “There’s remarkably little pain involved,” Sadler said, comparing the local anesthetic that is needed with what one might get in a dental office.

The Vnus technology is a second-generation method. Sadler and colleagues studied various procedures over the years. In the Closure method, he heats a long, thin, disposable catheter to exactly 120 degrees Celsius. The science is in the device that precisely heats the catheter. The machine resembles a small microwave oven and includes some very expensive technology.

The catheter has to be heated precisely because it would burn the patient if it were too hot and would not do the job if it were too cool.

Sadler carefully inserts the heated catheter through a small opening in the skin and into the damaged vein. The vein wall collapses and is sealed closed. Once the diseased vein is closed, blood is rerouted to other, healthy veins.

A simple bandage is placed over the opening, and patients typically walk out the door on their own. Generally, the leg looks much better within a week, and most patients are relieved of leg pain.

Candidates for the procedure may come from jobs that require standing for extended periods of time. Obesity is also a factor, and some patients have a family history of varicose veins or have had several pregnancies, which may contribute to the problem.

Most people have been very pleased after the surgery is completed, and that pleases Sadler as well. “They are really happy, laughing, smiling. It’s immediately gratifying to see this,” added the doctor, who, according to the Iowa Vein Clinic Web site, has championed the Thoracic Oncology Program at Genesis Medical Center in Davenport for the past 10 years.

The Closure procedure is covered by Medicare and most private insurance carriers.