Update on VAM 2020 issued by SVS

The Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) has placed members on notice that the Vascular Annual Meeting (VAM) slated for June 17–20 in Toronto looks increasingly “unlikely” in the shadow of the coronavirus outbreak. Writing on SVSConnect, the online community of…
Call for older physicians to be protected from COVID-19

Hospitals and government health departments should give careful consideration to the protection of older physicians and nurses in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a viewpoint published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Peter I.…
CMS announces temporary waivers that include expansion of telehealth coverage

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a series of temporary regulatory waivers and new rules designed to help the U.S. healthcare system respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal agency announced. The actions cover increasing hospital…
Elder statesman of venous disease delivers golfing metaphor for fortitude, wellness

AMELIA ISLAND, Fla.—As a podium talk at the annual meeting of the American Venous Forum (AVF), it represented a bit of an outlier. It was, the presenter admitted, the only non-scientific talk on the program. But the speaker was no…
‘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…

