The angiología is the branch of medicine devoted to the study, treatment and prevention of disorders affecting blood vessels, including arteries and veins.
Blood vessels are the structures that together with the heart make up the circulatory system , responsible for the transport and distribution of various substances in the body; These include oxygen, nutrients , waste products from the body, and carbon dioxide.
Arterial system
The arteries are blood vessels responsible for the transport of blood and nutrients from the heart to the tissues. These structures have a firm, elastic wall that stretches with each impulse of blood from the heart, creating blood pressure.
This system is affected by various disorders, especially obstruction by the deposition of cholesterol plaques that give rise to arteriosclerosis, the main cause of heart attacks and cerebrovascular accidents, which are the main problems evaluated by doctors dedicated to the angiology.
Other less common conditions that affect the arteries are dilations of defined portions of the arterial wall known as aneurysms.
Venous system
The venous system is made up of the veins , these are blood vessels responsible for the return of blood to the heart, so they allow the collection of waste substances from the tissues but also bring the nutrients that are absorbed in the digestive tract towards the general circulation. .
The walls of the veins are thinner than the arterial walls, these structures do not have a muscular layer so they do not have the same resistance as the arteries, and they even tend to dilate and increase in size due to effects such as gravity at the level of the arteries. legs, giving rise to the main problem of the veins that angiologists treat such as varicose veins.
In some patients, varicose veins can cause fluid retention in the ankles known as edema, which in addition to having a poor aesthetic appearance can lead to the development of skin changes such as varicose ulcers.
Main tools of angiology
Angiology has its own diagnostic studies that allow evaluating the circulatory system, these include Doppler ultrasound of the arterial system and the venous system, arteriography and catheterization.
These studies make it possible to define the state of the blood vessels and their walls, identify thrombi and obstructions, as well as carry out blood vessel dilation procedures , such as angioplasty, which consists of permeabilization of the coronary arteries of the heart. that takes place during cardiac catheterization.
This specialty performs various procedures in addition to catheterization, these include the execution of bypass in the clogged arteries, as well as sclerosis and the resection of varicose veins. Today angiology relies on novel therapies based on the use of laser platforms to carry out a large number of procedures.