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Upper-extremity vascular injuries associated with ‘increased prevalence’ of nerve deficits
Vascular injuries of the upper extremity are associated with a lower rate of limb loss but have an increased prevalence of nerve deficits after trauma, a new analysis comparing vascular trauma of the extremities reveals. The investigators behind the study—delivered…
Not Appropriate! Florida healthcare fraud case highlights inappropriateness in care
The latest research around practice patterns and appropriateness in care came shortly after a criminal case in Florida at the tail end of last year in which the owner of an outpatient catheterization lab pled guilty to committing healthcare fraud,…
‘Inordinate amount’ of vascular surgery’s Medicare payments go to narrow group, study finds
Just 1% of vascular surgeons receive “an inordinate amount” of the total Medicare payments that flow toward the specialty, with disproportionate use of outpatient atherectomy among a small number of providers raising concerns on appropriateness and overutilization, an investigation of…
CMS creates new codes for IVL performed below the knee
Shockwave Medical has announced that as part of the calendar year 2021 Medicare Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) final rule, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has created four new codes for intravascular lithotripsy (IVL) procedures performed…
VOYAGER PAD: Rivaroxaban plus aspirin versus aspirin alone among CLTI patients undergoing revascularization reduced risk of adverse outcomes at three years
In one of the latest sub-analyses from the VOYAGER PAD trial, investigators found that rivaroxaban plus aspirin versus aspirin alone in the high-risk population of patients with critical limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI) undergoing lower-extremity revascularization reduced the risk of a first…
New society focused on limb preservation unveiled
A new American Limb Preservation Society (ALPS) was launched during the recently concluded Diabetic Foot Conference (DFCon), held virtually this year from Oct. 9–10. The organization aims to serve as an interdisciplinary bridge between patients and medical specialties, surgery, nursing,…
Cigarette tax rises lead to drop in active smoking in claudication patients, study finds
Increases in cigarette taxes appear to be an effective strategy to cut active smoking among patients who are undergoing interventions for intermittent claudication, the New England Society for Vascular Surgery (NESVS) virtual annual meeting (Sept. 11–12) heard. That was the…
IN.PACT Admiral DCB shows ‘significant advantage’ over uncoated devices in fempop artery treatment analysis
The IN.PACT Admiral drug-coated balloon (DCB) demonstrated a significant advantage in overall survival, amputation-free survival and target-lesion revascularization after femoropopliteal artery treatment through four-year follow-up when compared to uncoated balloons, a single-institution, retrospective review that tackled a head-to-head comparison between…
‘If I had gone along the path advised, I would never have become a surgeon’
Some of the formative educational experiences described by Olamide Alabi, MD, read like textbook examples of the subtleties many see as baked into U.S. society, multiplying down the years as the very face of systemic racism in the country. These…
Doubted as a doctor during mid-flight medical emergency and once asked: ‘Shouldn’t you be playing basketball?’
In a vascular surgery career spanning 20 years, Vincent Rowe, MD, has seen it all: Tending to patients at bedside, the vascular surgical services chief at Los Angeles County + USC Medical Center has had his very presence as a…