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…
Abou-Zamzam assumes Western Vascular Society reins

Ahmed Abou-Zamzam Jr., MD, has taken over the as the 2024–25 president of the Western Vascular Society (WVS). The professor of surgery at Loma Linda University Health in Loma Linda, California, assumed the WVS reins following the conclusion of the…
WVS 2023: President emphasizes importance of ‘tolerance’ in vascular specialty

Outgoing Western Vascular Society (WVS) President Wei Zhou, MD, used her presidential address to put out a call for the vascular specialty to embrace tolerance in order that it thrives amid rising cases of physician burnout and the mounting pressures…
Preventing spinal cord ischemia: Novel techniques for direct segmental artery revascularization show promise, WVS 2023 hears

A vascular surgery team from the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles demonstrated the feasibility of multidisciplinary direct revascularization of segmental arteries to prevent spinal cord ischemia (SCI) using novel endovascular or extra-anatomic bypass techniques in high-risk patients…
WVS 2023: Western Vascular Society presidency passes from Zhou to Fujitani

Roy M. Fujitani, MD, president of the University of California, Irvine (UCI) Medical Center medical staff, took over as Western Vascular Society (WVS) president at the conclusion of the WVS annual meeting recently held in Koloa, Hawaii (Sept. 9–12). He…
WVS 2022: New evidence of radiation reduction benefit emerges

Surgical augmented intelligence in the form of 3D mapping during complex aortic procedures can decrease radiation exposure, fluoroscopy time and contrast use when combined with real-time fluoroscopic images, a new analysis has established The results were presented during the 2022…
Regional vascular presidents measure state of specialty

Vincent Rowe, MD, and Raghu Motaganahalli, MD, delivered Presidential Addresses at the Western Vascular Society (WVS) and the Midwestern Vascular Surgical Society (MVSS) that spelled out ways in which vascular surgery can advance—and thrive. Rowe has been on the regional…
WVS 2022: Study probes who benefits from EVAR among patients with chronic kidney disease

Patients with advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD) represent a high-risk group who may not benefit from elective endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) for abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) under traditional sizing criteria. That was among the chief findings in a paper presented…
The top 10 most popular Vascular Specialist stories in February

February’s top 10 includes a highlight from the 2022 Vascular and Endovascular Surgery Society (VESS) winter annual meeting and an interview with Melissa Kirkwood, MD, and colleagues at UT Southwestern in Dallas, Texas, regarding the lightweight shield designed to reduce…
Radiation protection: Lightweight shield designed to reduce dose during complex endovascular procedures gains ground

It all started with a “we should do research together; this is fascinating.” The result—the production of a prototype eyewear that decreases radiation to the eye and brain—is the more-than-decade-long toil of Melissa Kirkwood, MD, and colleagues at UT Southwestern…

