Vascular surgery

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Vascular surgery is the branch of surgery that occupies itself with surgical interventions of arteries and veins, as well as conservative therapies for disease of the peripheral vascular system. Surgery of the heart, and its vessels is the specialty of the cardiothoracic surgeon. Whilst surgery involving vessels in the brain (eg intracranial aneurysms) is the specialty of the neurosurgeon.

Contents 1 Breadth of discipline 2 Training 3 Surgical Procedures 4 External links

[edit] Breadth of discipline

• Arterial diseases ( especially in Diabetics )
  • Aneurysms
  • Ischemia
    • Limb ischemia
      • Acute limb ischemia
        • Thrombectomies
        • Embolectomies
        • Anti-coagulation and Thrombolysis
      • Chronic limb ischemia
        • see intermittent claudication and peripheral artery occlusive disease
        • Diabetic foot ulcers
    • Mesenteric ischemia
    • Renal ischemia
  • Extracranial cerebrovascular disease
    • Carotid Endarterectomy and other carotid surgery
    • Surgery of the vertebral system
• Venous disease
  • Deep Vein Thrombosis
  • Thrombophelebitis
  • Varicose Veins and Varicosities
  • Venous malformations
• Lymphatic disease
  • Lymphoedema

• Vascular Medicine
  • Medical disorders with a significant vascular components, for example:
    • Raynaud's syndrome
    • Scleroderma

[edit] Training

Previously considered a field within general surgery, it is now considered a specialty in its own right. As a result, training has been, or is being re-structured from previously having to complete full general surgery training followed by a period of further vascular surgery training, to being trained in vascular surgery alone from start to finish.

Programs of training are slightly different depending on the region of the world one is in.

Country	Standards body	Professional representation	Minimum Length of training (post intern)
Australia and New Zealand	Royal Australasian College of Surgeons	Australian & New Zealand Society of Vascular Surgery (ANZSVS)	6 years
United Kingdom	Royal College of Surgeons of England, Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh	Vascular Society of Great Britain and Ireland	8 years
USA	Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)	American College of Surgeons Multiple vascular societies	8 years

[edit] Surgical Procedures

By no means exhaustive, but below are a number of common procedures and indications for vascular surgeons.

Indication/disease	Procedure	External link
Abdominal aortic aneurysm	Open AAA repair Endoluminal AAA repair (EVAR)
Carotid stenosis	Carotid endarterectomy Carotid stenting
Varicose veins	Vein stripping Sclerotherapy and Foam sclerotherapy Laser ablation Ambulatory phlebectomy
Peripheral arterial occlusive disease	Angioplasty with/out Stenting Bypass surgery
Acute limb ischaemia	Balloon embolectomy Thrombectomy Bypass surgery
Aortic dissection	Open repair Thoracic stent graft

[edit] External links

• Vascular surgery Material on arterial and venous surgery.
• Vascular Surgery Information in the South