‘Desperate times require desperate measures,’ SVS Town Hall on COVID-19 hears

The imperatives of preserving personal protective equipment (PPE) in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic were given a robust airing during a Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) Town Hall on the specialty’s early experiences with the coronavirus strain. Some of…
Future is now: Surgical simulation utilizing 3D printing has potential to help cut medical errors, according to surgeon-innovator

HOUSTON—The picture as Jonathan Stone, MD, describes it couldn’t be more stark. Medical error, according to recent publications, he says, now sits at third place among the leading causes of death. “Right behind heart disease and cancer there is medical…
Clopidogrel exposure along with aspirin and rivaroxaban should be ‘minimized or avoided’ in PAD revascularization

“More bleeding with background clopidogrel, even if not severe by adjudication, may be associated with broad consequences, including discontinuation of therapies. In the absence of clear benefit, clopidogrel exposure along with aspirin and rivaroxaban should be minimized or avoided to…
Study suggests 90% of aortic aneurysm papers do not reveal physician conflicts of interest

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo.— Almost 90% of authors who received industry-reported payments did not disclose a financial conflict of interest in their manuscript, a study exploring the issue of compensation made to physician-specialist authors of highly-cited aortic aneurysm papers discovered. The…
Combining aspirin with rivaroxaban reduces risk equally in presence or absence of diabetes

In stable atherosclerosis, a combination of aspirin plus rivaroxaban provided a similar relative degree of benefit on coronary, cerebrovascular and peripheral endpoints in patients with and without diabetes, a prespecified analysis of the COMPASS trial has shown. It also noted…
Consensus statements: Use of intravenous contrast media in kidney disease patients not as great a risk as previously thought

The reputed risk of administering modern intravenous iodinated contrast media in patients with reduced kidney function has been “overstated.” That is the headline takeaway from consensus statements released by the American College of Radiology and the National Kidney Foundation on…
Aspirin plus rivaroxaban significantly lowers adverse events in PAD revascularization

Treatment with aspirin plus rivaroxaban following lower-extremity revascularization in patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD) leads to a 15% reduction in the risk of major adverse limb and cardiovascular events when compared with aspirin alone. The VOYAGER PAD study was…
STABLE II results published on endovascular treatment of acute complicated TBAD with Cook Zenith

Thirty-day and one-year data from the STABLE II study have been published in the April 2020 issue of the Journal of Vascular Surgery (JVS) by Joseph V. Lombardi, MD, professor and chief of vascular surgery at Cooper University Hospital, Camden, New Jersey, and…
COVID-19 special: How to be a doctor at the end of the world

Vascular Specialist medical editor Malachi Sheahan III, MD, is no stranger to national and international emergencies—from New York City during both the 1990s AIDS crisis and the terrorist attack on 9/11, to New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Here,…
Integrity of clinical trials should be ‘preserved’ in face of COVID-19

Efforts and resources should be directed toward continuing randomized clinical trials in spite of the specter of the coronavirus pandemic. This is because of the potential of such studies to help millions of people suffering from debilitating chronic diseases, according…

