Pharmacologic treatment, follow-up in cessation services help drive abstinence in PAD patients

A recent French study suggests smoking cessation in patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is achievable with intensive and appropriate management, with the prescription of a pharmacologic smoking cessation treatment and follow-up with smoking cessation services both identified as important…
VQI to host webinar on updated smoking cessation variables

The Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) Patient Safety Organization (SVS PSO) will host a webinar on Tuesday, July 15, at 1 p.m. Eastern Time to present updates to the National Quality Initiative Smoking Cessation variables within the SVS Vascular Quality…
CEA: The importance of doctor-patient conversations about quitting smoking for better stroke outcomes in setting of asymptomatic stenosis

A new analysis that shows current smokers who undergo carotid endarterectomy (CEA) for asymptomatic carotid stenosis are at increased risk of long-term stroke and death compared to former or never smokers helps reinforce the importance of physicians talking to patients…
Smoking: BEST-CLI trial points to protective effect against MALE in those undergoing open bypass over endovascular intervention

An analysis of the BEST-CLI randomized controlled trial (RCT) found that smokers with chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI) should be preferentially treated with open bypass over endovascular intervention. Researchers from the University of California San Diego (UCSD) looked at BEST-CLI patients…
SVS members pitch in to help patients kick the smoking habit

SVS members are taking advantage of the new Smoking Cessation Toolkit and resources from the Vascular Quality Initiative (VQI), adding them to existing programs and giving new life to their quest to get their patients to kick the nicotine habit…
SVS launches national smoking cessation initiative

The Society for Vascular Surgery’s Patient Safety Organization (SVS PSO) has formally launched a national smoking cessation initiative. It includes tools and resources to help physicians, surgeons and other healthcare professionals to help their patients kick the smoking habit. CAN-DO (Choosing Against…
VAM 2023: Vascular Quality Initiative launches national smoking cessation drive

The SVS Patient Safety Organization (SVS PSO) has launched a national smoking cessation initiative. SVS PSO Associate Medical Director Gary Lemmon, MD, and SVS PSO Director of Quality Betsy Wymer introduced the program during SVS PSO’s Vascular Quality Initiative’s (VQI)…
Significant life and limb gains for claudicants who stop smoking before lower-extremity bypass

Long-term overall survival (OS) and amputation-free survival (AFS) are outcomes that rebound in claudicants who quit smoking prior to elective surgery—and they mirror those of never smokers. But patients who don’t kick the habit have significantly worse outcomes, lighting up…
Study is first to elucidate lower-limb amputation epidemiology in a Latin American low- and middle-income country

A study recently published in the World Journal of Surgery claims to be the first to provide comprehensive population-level data on the epidemiology of lower-extremity amputation (LEA) in a Latin American low- and middle-income country (LMIC). The investigators write that their…
First results from BEST-CLI poised to reveal ‘very low’ quality of life for patients entering the trial, especially women

An analysis from the Best Endovascular versus Best Surgical Therapy in Patients with Critical Limb Ischemia (BEST-CLI) trial presented at the 2022 Vascular Annual Meeting (VAM) demonstrated patient-specific variables such as self-reported female gender, current smoking, impaired mobility and opioid…

