The State-of-the-Art in Vascular and Endovascular Surgery 2023

2023 Course Overview

Information for the 2024 course is not yet available.

This is the 37th year of this Harvard Continuing Education postgraduate course entitled State-of-the-Art in Vascular and Endovascular Surgery: 2023. It provides a unique function as it involves all of the Boston and major Eastern Massachusetts medical centers to provide distinguished faculty, which includes many leaders in the field who are recognized authorities on a national and international scale. Included in the faculty are a number of nationally recognized invited speakers, which includes the designated Linton Visiting Professor who gives a timely distinguished lecture, often a highlight of the course.  

The course is a focused, up to date approach towards multiple timely topics of interest in vascular disease, including patient assessment by vascular surgeons and other vascular specialists. As such, it will try to help provide the optimal approach for the evaluation, diagnostic and management (including technical performance in ‘How I Do It’) and offer specific evidence-based treatment options for a whole array of vascular problems. This will provide a current comprehensive review of the evaluation and management of this patient population as well as address many of the existing controversies. This should translate into improved patient outcomes through a better understanding of pathogenesis, the diagnosis and the natural history of the disease processes and how to select the optimal methodology for the treatment, when necessary.  

The teaching format will include short lectures by the faculty, followed by a panel discussion where we will address many of the issues. This will provide the attendees the opportunity to ask multiple questions relating to the lectures and session presentations. This interactive session will help the course attendees improve their knowledge and competence in the practice of treating patients with vascular disease. During appropriate sessions, there will be formal debates on controversial topics to help the attendees appreciate the different points of view in these complex clinical problems. In addition, at the end of each day of lectures, there will also be several specific patient case presentations reflecting the prior didactic sessions to help emphasize key points in the lectured topics using the example of real patients with the real vascular disease. By providing these real-life examples, this will enable the attendees to better understand the perspectives of the vascular pathophysiology in the effort to make the best judgements necessary to provide the optimal outcomes for these patients. 

The target audience for this postgraduate course is very broad. The targeted attendee audience includes any clinical practitioner treating patients with arterial and venous vascular disease in any capacity. This includes vascular, general and cardiothoracic surgeons, as well as interventional radiologist and cardiologists. It will include trainees not limited to all the residents and fellows in vascular surgery and vascular medicine. Many talks for management of these patients will also be helpful for intensivists as well as emergency medicine personnel who see patients with vascular disease. Those who wish to have a greater depth of understanding and appreciation for the evaluation and treatment options for patients with vascular disease will clearly benefit from this course. The qualifications of the participants can be on the level of physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, as well as surgical and medical trainees such as residents and fellows.  

Who Should Attend

• Vascular surgeons
• Cardiothoracic and General surgeons vascular disease  
• Cardiologists 
• Interventional radiologists 
• Emergency Medicine and Intensivist physicians 
• Advanced practice providers: Nurse practitioners, Physician assistants 
• Trainees: Residents/Fellows in vascular surgery, vascular medicine, cardiology and interventional radiology 

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this activity, participants will be able to:

• Recognize optimal medical management and identify which current treatments are appropriate for carotid artery disease. 
• Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of carotid stenting and endarterectomy.  
• Apply current guidelines for aortic aneurysm evaluation and management.  
• Determine the optimal management for patients with endoleak after EVAR.  
• Integrate contemporary evidence and recommendations into the care of patients with lower extremity venous insufficiency and venous thrombosis. 
• Compare the best available options for evaluating, managing and treating lower extremity ischemia: from claudication to critical limb ischemia.  
• Employ endovascular or open surgical therapies for peripheral artery occlusive disease and when each are more appropriate. 
• Manage acute arterial ischemia and venous disease according to current guidelines.  
• Review multiple issues related to vascular medicine for the optimal management of patients with vascular disease.  
• Recognize how to avoid and treat complications including cardiac, bleeding, clotting. 
• Understand the optimal approach to the patient with progressive chronic kidney disease and their dialysis access management. 
• Define multiple methodologies to minimize the operator’s and the patient’s exposure to Xray radiation.  
• Learn the technical tips and tricks of vascular procedures from experts in the field.