Clinical practice guidelines (CPG) are integral to helping achieve optimal patient care. The Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) clinical guidelines are evidence-based and the recommendations assist physicians in clinical decision-making in their daily practices.
The challenge for practicing physicians “is to determine how these recommendations apply to our own patients,” said John White, MD, who will moderate the first roundtable. Thus, the SVS has developed three instructional webinars on the guidelines for patients with chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI). The webinars are “devoted to informing you how to apply the guidelines to the care of your patients, the limb and anatomy,” he said.
The free webinars will be held monthly in August, September and October, and cover “Translating guidelines into practice: Global Vascular Guidelines on the management of patients with CLTI.” These webinars are based on the published guidelines, developed by the SVS, the European Society for Vascular Surgery (ESVS) and the World Federation of Vascular Societies (WFVS). See the guidelines at vsweb.org/GlobalCLTI.
The first session will be moderated by White and will be held from 6–7:30 p.m. Central Daylight Time on Monday, Aug. 15. It will focus on overall medical care of CLTI patients, including the current state of optimal medical management; recent developments in anti-thrombotic, anti-hypertensive and lipid-lowering management; and best ways to help patients quit smoking.
The session will feature internationally recognized speakers in peripheral arterial disease (PAD), a chief cause of CLTI and limb loss. The speakers include: Sonia Anand, MD, professor of medicine and epidemiology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada; Joshua A. Beckman, MD, professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee; Marc Bonaca, MD, executive director of vascular research at the University of Colorado School of Medicine; and Jonathan Golledge, MChir, professor of medicine at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia.
They will use one sample patient to design treatment strategies and demonstrate how to put the global vascular care guidelines into practice.
Attendees will fill out short surveys before and after the session, and a follow-up survey 60 days later, to determine if the guidelines have been easy to put into daily clinical practice. All participants will receive the guidelines, implementation tools, printed guideline pocket guide and relevant references, and a link to the SVS Interactive Practice Guidelines app.
The remaining two webinars will be Monday, Sept. 12, with “Diagnosis and staging of the limb,” moderated by Joseph Mills, MD; and Monday, Oct. 10, on “Revascularization,” moderated by Michael Conte, MD, who was the U.S. editor for the Global Vascular Guidelines.
CLTI is an important clinical issue and treatments are being studied in the BEST-CLI (Best endovascular vs. best surgical therapy in patients with critical limb ischemia) trial. “These three webinars will be coming at an important time as we all anticipate the upcoming results of the BEST-CLI 2 and 3 trials in the next several months,” said Conte.
The SVS urges all members to participate in this important learning opportunity. Learn more, find recommended readings and register at vascular.org/CLTIroundtables.
