Expert: Ronald Levy, M.D. - 3/22/2007

Question
i have no veins...from drug use in the past....how will you put me under?

Answer
There are always veins. There are some that you can't get that we can (such as your internal jugular vein or femoral vein). If necessary, we will use those. Also, veins recannulate so even if you destroyed a vein, it may come back. If you think about it, if you didn't have any veins, your extremities would die becuase the blood could not get back to the heart.

Ronald Levy, MD
Associate Professor of Anesthesiology
UTMB-Galveston