Guy, 55 years

I had been following Theraclion, the company behind SONOVEIN, since 2015 as an investor and had presented myself as a candidate to join the clinical trial. My medical file was accepted but the clinical trial was being conducted in Wien and I was advised to wait until a French practitioner would adopt this ultrasound therapy.

This is how in March 2021 I found myself in the angiologist’s office after a short trip by TGV from Paris to Lille. The practitioner first introduced me to the equipment, explained how I was going to be treated and after checking my faulty venous network, I lay down for two hours of treatment – two hours, which went by very quickly, as I was so busy discussing with Dr Stalnikiewicz about history, literature, current events…

Thirty years ago, I had already had my saphenous veins removed and I still had a vivid memory of it: very painful for more than two weeks, my legs bandaged and my movements difficult. A new network had been formed and then degraded. Dr Stalnikiewicz first undertook to close the ‘perforators’ of this network. Starting with the middle of the inner thigh and without anaesthesia.

He then concluded to inject the local anaesthetic of xylocaine to lower the pain. I hate needles but the needle was thin enough so that I did not feel any discomfort. Afterwards the sensation of the shocks was reduced and they no longer needed to be announced by a countdown. A new local anaesthetic on the other leg gave an equally comfortable result. However, I noticed a tendency to contract with a slight tremor which I controlled by relaxing; until the next stiffening.

At the end of the session, I went home by train and metro, as if nothing had happened. My legs were bandaged as a precaution until the next day.

A week has just passed, and I still feel pain in the narrowed perforators on my inner thighs. For the rest, my compression stockings offer me the usual comfort. I still climb 6 floors to my flat without a lift in less than a minute.

I will return to Lille in 6 weeks for a check-up visit. Dr Stalnikiewicz knows how to establish a relationship of trust and beyond the experienced and attentive practitioner I appreciated the benevolence that radiates from this man.