“The intellectual exchange of information and a better understanding of unique global perspectives has brought the leading societies closer,” Palma Shaw, MD, MBA, secretary general of the World Federation of Vascular Societies (WFVS) says of the success of this international organization ahead of its second annual Educational Session to be held at VAM 2023, due to take place on Wednesday June 14 (6:30–7:30 a.m.) in Maryland A.
In an interview with VS@VAM ahead of the session, Shaw, of Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, New York, states that the key role of the WFVS is to “help form a bridge” between its various partner societies from across the globe. The organization’s goals, she continues, include “fostering international scientific discourse for the purpose of the understanding of vascular disease” and “sharing knowledge in the development of effective therapies and interventions to treat vascular disease and strategies for training vascular specialists” for the benefit of vascular patients worldwide.
The VAM audience will hear from representatives of all member societies. On behalf of the Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS), Wei Zhou, MD, of the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona, is due to speak on tailoring carotid endarterectomy (CEA), transcarotid artery revascularization (TCAR) and transfemoral carotid artery stenting (TF-CAS) to improve clinical and cognitive outcomes.
“Although multiple randomized controlled trials and the most recent SVS carotid guideline endorse CEA over medical therapy in patients with carotid artery stenosis,” she tells this newspaper, “studies have shown that aggressive risk factor modification is just as effective in stroke prevention in asymptomatic patients.” Meanwhile, she notes that there has been a rapid increase in TCAR adoption in the US, and that TF-CAS continues to be widely accepted with stent innovation.
Speaking on behalf of the Latin American Association for Vascular Surgery (ALCVA), Nelson De Luccia, MD, of the University of Sao Paulo in Sao Paulo, Brazil, will focus on the topic of hybrid operations for aortic arch aneurysms. He describes this treatment option to VS@VAM as a “less invasive and effective solution” for many patients with aortic arch aneurysms at a time when total endovascular solutions are not yet available on a regular basis.
Mark J. Jackson, MD, MBBS, of Gold Coast Hospital in Southport, Australia, will be giving a presentation on behalf of the Australia and New Zealand Society for Vascular Surgery (ANZSVS) looking at challenges for the provision of vascular surgical services in remote Australia.
“The ANZSVS has proposed a model for a more reliable and sustainable vascular service in Australia’s remote regions,” he shares in an interview prior to VAM. However, he notes multiple jurisdictions and organizational barriers make this a “challenging” task.
On behalf of the Asian Society for Vascular Surgery (ASVS), Stephen W. K. Cheng, MBBS, MS, of the University of Hong Kong will give some insights from endovascular repair of the arch using custom-branched endografts. “Endovascular treatment of diseases of the arch, like aneurysms, dissections, and infections, had been the pinnacle of challenge in vascular surgery,” he says. “The WFVS session will be a good opportunity to showcase our results and share tips and tricks specific to pathology and anatomy of this region.”
Elsewhere in the session, Philippe H. Kolh, MD, PhD, of the University of Liege in Liege, Belgium—who is current president of the WFVS—will be speaking on behalf of the European Society for Vascular Surgery (ESVS). VAM delegates will also hear from Nihar Pradhan, MBBS, MS, of Apollo Health City in Hyderabad, India, representing the Vascular Society of India (VSI); Takahiro Suzuki, MD, of the University of Miami in Miami, Florida, representing the Japanese Society for Vascular Surgery (JSVS); and Asha Malan, MD, of the Universitas Academic Hospital in Bloemfontein, South Africa, representing the Vascular Society of Southern Africa (VASSA).
