How much of these are collateral drainage vs. just normal stuff?
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@RickAZ - I believe that the veins I’ve marked w/ blue arrows are collaterals. You have some doozies!
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And what’s the overall story on collaterals? The can help alleviate pressure but if you still have symptoms then they aren’t doing enough and they can create symptoms of their own? And they recede post successful opening of IJV?
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Yes, if they’re not doing their (new) job you can still have high intracranial pressure symptoms, & yes the collaterals can themselves cause pain, often in the back of the head. I would guess that they either press on nerves like the occipital nerve, or perhaps because they’re so swollen cause pain like varicose veins do?
They should shrink if the IJVs are fully decompressed, but no idea of the time frame, I would guess it’s very variable like most people’s surgery recoveries!
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