Dispatches from the vascular front: Embracing telemedicine in COVID-19 era

DALLAS—William P. Shutze, MD, has not long since finished his day’s practice—a shift in which he carried out somewhere in the region of 13 televisits. This is a new era for life in general as the world struggles to adjust…
Dispatches from the vascular front: COVID-19 strikes New Jersey like ‘tidal wave’

Operating in the shadow of New York City, Clifford M. Sales, MD, has had his finger on the pulse of North America’s two worst-affected regions since the scourge of COVID-19 first started to take hold locally. New York’s pandemic plight…
Dispatches from the vascular front: Consequences of COVID-19 on a Florida private practice

The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have landed like a sledgehammer on vascular surgery, reducing much of practice to a standstill. For those in private practice, the effects have perhaps been even more profound, with practitioners forced to all-but pull…
Dispatches from the vascular front: A view of COVID-19’s impact on hard-hit NYC

Sharif Ellozy, MD, has had just about as near to a front row seat as it gets to the part of the United States worst-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic—short of operating as an intensive care unit (ICU) or emergency room…
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…
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…
Physician-developed respirator device offers one possible solution to PPE shortages

Surgeons and other healthcare professionals aren’t hanging around waiting for depleted personal protective equipment (PPE) to be replenished. Amid COVID-19-related shortages, ingenuity, creativity and craftsmanship have come to the fore. Social media swirl with tales of healthcare professionals fashioning and…
FDA official delivers government agency’s early reaction to latest contentious meta-analysis on paclitaxel-coated devices

HOLLYWOOD, Fla.—A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) official delivered a talk which represents the government agency’s earliest public reaction to the latest meta-analysis suggesting significantly reduced amputation-free survival at one year when paclitaxel-coated balloons are applied in arteries below the…
Cost of burnout on physician health and surgical performance explored

NEW YORK—It’s the recurring theme on the conference circuit that stubbornly refuses to subside but one whose toll is great and lasting. At the VEITHsymposium in New York (Nov. 19–23, 2019), it was the turn of Samuel R. Money, MD,…
Initial results from first-in-man trial of prosthetic VenoValve demonstrate promise, says investigator

PALM BEACH, Fla.—The initial results of an ongoing first-in-man study in Colombia that saw the implantation of a prosthetic venous valve in 15 patients appear promising, with improvement in clinical outcomes and quality of life evaluation, delegates at the Southern…

