SVS FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES 2023 STUDENT RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP AWARDS

The Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) Foundation has announced the winners of the 2023 Student Research Fellowship Awards. The award is bestowed for undergraduate college and medical school students registered at universities in the United States and Canada. Its intent is to introduce the student to the application of rigorous scientific methods to clinical problems and underlying biologic processes important to patients with vascular disease.

Michelle Bach, University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School

Sponsor: Pedro Teixeira, MD

Project Title: “Amplify amputees: Health literacy and patient-reported outcomes and clinical outcomes in nontraumatic major lower limb amputees”

Christian Barksdale, Medical University of South Carolina

Sponsor: Jean Marie Ruddy, MD

Project Title: “Defining the mechanosensitive threshold of serum and glucocorticoid inducible kinase-1 (SGK-1) in the murine abdominal aorta”

Nitishkumar Bhatt, Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network

Sponsor: Kathryn Howe, MD

Project Title: “Automated and interpretable deep learning for carotid plaque analysis using ultrasound”

Emely Tatiana Carmona, University of Pittsburgh

Sponsor: Nathan L. Liang, MD

Project Title: “Association between patient neighborhood deprivation index, long-term mortality outcomes, and loss to long-term follow-up after an elective abdominal aortic aneurism repair”

Haley Cirka, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School

Sponsor: Tammy Nguyen, MD

Project Title: “The effect of type-2 diabetes on macrophage differentiation in non-healing diabetic foot ulcers”

Learn more about new Vascular Verification Program at May 15 forum

Renxi Li, The George Washington University

Sponsor: Bao-Ngoc Nguyen, MD

Project Title: “A comprehensive guide to the angiogenic niche during early acute skin inflammation using single-cell RNA sequencing”

Max Zhu, Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine

Sponsor: Jeffrey J. Siracuse, MD

INTERESTED IN LEARNING MORE details about the American College (ACS) of Surgeons/Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) Vascular Verification Program (Vascular-VP)?

A Virtual Quality Forum will take place from 6 to 7 p.m. CDT and will feature internationally recognized speakers on quality and patient-centered care. The new program is an evidence-driven, standardized path for instituting and growing a quality improvement and clinical care infrastructure within a hospital’s vascular program and in the outpatient setting set to launch later in 2023.

Aria Harding, University of Florida College of Medicine, North Florida/South Georgia VAMC

Sponsor: Scott T. Robinson, MD

Project Title: “The impact of e-cigarette exposure on skeletal muscle function in peripheral arterial disease”

April Huang, University of Califorinia San Francisco

Sponsor: Adam Oskowitz, MD

Project Title: “Immune cell profiling in photodynamic therapy: A novel treatment for abdominal aortic aneurysm”

Baqir Jamal Kedwai, University of Rochester Medical Center

Sponsor: Doran Mix, MD

Project Title: “Determination of the natural history of aortic dissection tissue mechanics using non-invasive elastography”

Junsung Kim, University of Chicago

Sponsor: Luka Pocivavsek, MD

Project Title: “Using machine learning to predict post-EVAR complications from aortic shape”

Hong Quang Le, University of Virginia

Sponsor: K. Craig Kent, MD

Project Title: “The therapeutic implications of methionine restriction in post-thrombotic syndrome through attenuation of vein wall fibrosis and inflammation post-deep vein thrombosis”

Project Title: “The impact of neighborhood social disadvantage on presentation and management of first-time hemodialysis access surgery patients”

VESAP5 expires in July

THE FIFTH EDITION OF the Vascular Educational SelfAssessment Program (VESAP5) will expire on July 14. Continuing medical education (CME) credit will not be awarded and access to VESAP5 will no longer be available after July 14. Currently, those who wish to purchase the online learning and self-assessment program can do so at discounts of up to 25% off. Those who purchase the comprehensive package now will have access to the non-CME version of VESAP5 (excluding the vascular lab modules) for a year.

VESAP5—available in both comprehensive packages and a vascular lab program—helps vascular surgeons prepare for qualifying, certification and recertification exams in vascular surgery and to remain current in the specialty. Vascular residents and fellows find it useful for studying for their own examinations.

The vascular lab modules, available separately and added to VESAP5, aid ultrasound technicians in their selfassessment. Physician test-takers can earn up to 97.5 AMA PRA Category 1™ credit hours. Non-physicians will receive a certificate of completion. For more information on VESAP5 and to make a purchase, visit vascular.org/VESAP5

Thomas Forbes, MD, editor in chief of the Journal of Vascular Surgery and chair of the SVS Quality Council, will moderate. Panelists include Clifford Ko, MD, ACS director of the Division of Research and Optimal Patient Care; Anton Sidawy, MD, chair of the SVS Steering Verification Committee; R. Clement Darling III, MD, chair of the Inpatient Verification Program; and William Shutze, MD, chair the Outpatient Verification Program.

“The ACS has the experience and infrastructure for developing surgical quality programs and the SVS has the experience and expertise about vascular surgery,” said Sidawy, ACS Regent, past president of the SVS, and the Lewis B. Saltz Chair, Department of Surgery, George Washington University, Washington, DC.

Darling said of going through the process: “Being a pilot site was incredibly valuable. It allowed us to evaluate our system, see what we were doing well, and where we needed to improve.” He is chief of the Division of Vascular Surgery at Albany Medical Center, Albany, New York.

The program will include a synopsis of ACS quality verification programs, particularly in relation to clinical outcomes; an overview of the ACS/SVS program and the four guiding principles of continuous quality improvement; the inpatient standards and program and the outpatient verification program (expected to launch later in 2023), including the process and its value; and a panel discussion. “This program can truly be transformative throughout the entire hospital. Vascular-VP helps strengthen a hospital’s safety and continuous improvement culture to enhance patient outcomes with greater reliability and standardization of care,” said Ko.

Attendees are encouraged to look at the program’s standards manual at vascular.org/VerificationProgramStandards. Register at vascular.org/VerificationQualityForum

SVS-ACS Vascular Verification Program: Key former SVS president predicts need for additional reviewers,

Former SVS President Anton Sidawy, MD, hopes the launch of the Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) and the American College of Surgeons (ACS) “Vascular Verification Program (Vascular-VP)” leads to the “flood gates” opening with applications. “We’re going to need reviewers as we move forward,” to augment the more than 15 already trained, said Sidawy, the vascular regent serving on the Board of Regents of the ACS who led the effort to create the Vascular-VP.

Program reviewers undergo formal training and follow the “surgery dogma” of ‘see one, do one, teach one,’” he explained. For example, he worked with the ACS first, then participated and, finally, led a visit with another trainee. “We created this program to ensure quality and quality improvement in vascular care in both the inpatient and outpatient settings,” said SVS President Michael C. Dalsing, MD, at the launch. To become a reviewer email Carrie McGraw at cmcgraw@vascularsociety.org

Surgery

“The time has definitely come to look at the evidence, and redo these studies,” posited Alun Davies, MD, from Imperial College London in London, England, putting forward his argument that the NASCET and ECST clinical trials “need to be reconducted” at this year’s Charing Cross (CX) Symposium (April 25–27) in London.

Much of Davies’ argument centred on the fact that best medical therapy—the comparator arm against which carotid endarterectomy (CEA) was assessed, and found to produce clinical benefits in

FDA approves IDE for pivotal study of high-intensity focused ultrasound platform

THE FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION (FDA) has approved an investigational device exemption (IDE) application for the VEINRESET multicenter pivotal study that will evaluate Sonovein high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) treatment for varicose veins, it has been announced.

Antonios Gasparis, MD, director of the Center for Vein Care at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, New York, recently reported the first U.S. assessment of the echotherapy platform, showing 100% technical feasibility at three months.

Sonovein treats primary insufficiency of great saphenous veins (GSVs) by concentrating therapeutic ultrasounds to an internal focal point from outside of the body, according to investigators.

The pivotal study will be conducted at four centers in the U.S. and Europe, with Steve Elias, MD, director of the Center for Vein Disease at Englewood Hospital in New Jersey, acting as principal investigator in the U.S.

“We believe that this key study will confirm the positive findings of the FDA feasibility study, completed just two months ago, and will ultimately allow us to commercially address the U.S. market,” said Yann Duchesne, executive chairman of Theraclion, the company behind Sonovein, in a press release.

carotid artery stenosis patients, in both of these studies—is “significantly better than it was” at the time. “We are relying on evidence from 1992, and I would say the playing fields have completely changed,” he noted. After outlining discrepancies between the North American NASCET and European ECST trials regarding how internal carotid artery stenosis was defined— with ECST having a higher threshold for severity—Davies said NASCET observed a 3.3% stroke/death rate at one month in its medical therapy arm, compared to roughly 5–6% with CEA. Recent research has shown that targeting a patient’s cholesterol, and initiating best medical therapy more quickly, can reduce adverse event rates by up to 80% early on, said Davies. He theorized that stroke/death incidence could now be as low as 0.7% with today’s best medical therapy.

First implant of custom-made thoracoabdominal hybrid device in North America announced

TERUMO AORTIC ANNOUNCED THE first North American implant of a custommade hybrid device, Thoracoflo. A press release noted that the device is used to treat patients with thoracoabdominal aortic disease using a less invasive surgical technique than traditional open surgical repair. This thoracoabdominal repair procedure using Thoracoflo was carried out by Randy Moore, MD, from the University of Calgary in Calgary, Canada. Moore and colleagues were supported by Sabine Wipper, MD, from University Hospital Innsbruck in Innsbruck, Austria. Terumo Aortic details that Moore was able to access the device through the Health Canada Special Access program.

The lead center in Europe for this hybrid procedure, the company states, is the University Heart Center in Hamburg, Germany, under the direction of Sebastian Debus, MD.

Moore commented: “This unique hybrid graft was designed through Terumo Aortic’s custom device program, specifically for the patient we were treating. With no other device with similar technology currently available globally for thoracoabdominal aortic repair, the Thoracoflo graft is designed to reduce the risk of complications associated with thoracotomy and extracorporeal circulation. This is the first time the device has been implanted in North America; it was easy to implant, and the procedure was uneventful and straightforward. The patient is recovering well with no complications postoperatively.”

Terumo Aortic relays that Thoracoflo incorporates a combination of Terumo Aortic’s Gelweave woven polyester grafts and ring-stent technology to address the patient’s specific anatomy.

Five-year results of the LEOPARD trial published in JVS

ENDOLOGIX HAS announced the online publication of the final five-year re sults of the LEOPARD trial in the Journal of Vascular Surgery (JVS The study’s findings showed that there was no significant difference in aneurysm-related outcomes between patients randomized to the AFX endograft system, with anatomical fixation, and commercially available endografts with proximal fixation.

“Importantly, the comparable performance results from the LEOPARD study between AFX/AFX2 and other endografts align with a recent publication that was authored on behalf of the Society for Vascular Surgery’s Patient Safety Organization and used linked registry claims data,” Matt Thompson, president and CEO of Endologix.

Cook Medical treats first patient in first-in-human trial for venous valve

COOK MEDICAL RECENTLY announced that the first patient has been treated in a clinical study to evaluate a new venous valve designed for treating chronic venous insufficiency (CVI). The patient was treated by principal investigator Mauricio Alviar, MD, a vascular surgeon at Clinica de la Costa in Barranquilla, Colombia.

“The deployment took a few minutes and the patient had local anesthesia. It was a team effort to manage this complex case, resulting in the first clinical use of this venous valve,” said Alviar.

The valve’s safety and efficacy are now being tested in a global, multisite clinical trial. The global principal investigator of the study is Paul Gagne MD, a vascular surgeon and an associate clinical professor of surgery at New York University’s School of Medicine.

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LEOPARD was a prospective, randomized, multicenter trial that enrolled 455 patients across 56 US centers. Two hundred and thirty five patients were included in the AFX/AFX2 arm and 220 patients in the comparator arm.

4.5” x 5.625”

Cook Medical and Cook Advanced Technologies developed a valve that functions similar to the way the veins naturally work. The clinical trial will continue to evaluate safety, efficacy, wound healing, leg pain, and disability levels over the next five years.

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