Vascular and Endovascular Surgery
Vascular surgery has blossomed over the last three decades with an increasing demand for dedicated consultants. In most district hospitals vascular surgeons still have acute general surgical commitments, however increasing numbers become pure vascular specialists in the larger teaching hospitals. However this will change in the future as young surgeons embark on focused vascular specialist training programmes they will no longer possess the skills required to offer a general surgical service.
The surgery is often complex and demanding, with a premium on technical skill; contrary to popular belief, amputation is not the inevitable ultimate outcome. Vascular surgery allows exploration into a vast array of anatomical sites to deal with diverse and challenging pathologies working with a wide range of other specialties. This can range from carotid disease with the stroke physicians one day to distal revascularization of the legs with the diabetic team the next, with an emergency call to the ruptured aortic aneurysm in A&E in the middle. This array of pathology provides significant research fodder.
As with many specialties there is increasing pressure to undertake more minimally invasive procedures. As with cardiac surgery, it is likely that endovascular interventions will play a larger role over the coming decades. However there is a shortage of adequately qualified vascular interventional radiologists to take on this task and as a result the vascular surgeon of the future will be dual trained in both surgery and interventional radiology thus being able to offer patients a complete service.
Furher Information
| Address | Vascular Society of Great Britain & Ireland Royal College of Surgeons of England 35-43 Lincoln's Inn Fields London WC2A 3PN |
| Website | Click here |