MARCH’S FREEACCESS ARTICLES IN JVS, JVS-VL

are due March 1 for a number of Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) and SVS Foundation awards.

The SVS Lifetime Achievement Award: This award, presented at the Vascular Annual Meeting, recognizes an individual’s outstanding and sustained contributions to the professions and SVS, and their exemplary professional practice and leadership.

The SVS Medal for Innovation in Vascular Surgery: The medal is given to an individual whose contribution has had a transformative impact on the practice or science of vascular surgery.

The SVS Foundation Clinical Research Seed Grants: These provide $25,000 in direct support for pilot clinical projects that could potentially become larger studies funded by industry or government sources. A patientoriented topic is encouraged.

Beginning this year, SVS has added service to the Society as an important component of its SVS Distinguished Fellow process.

Nominations and applications also are due March 1 for this honor, which goes to Active, International or Senior vascular surgeon members who have made substantial contributions in two of the three categories of research, service and education.

For award information visit vascular. org/SVSAwards or vascular.org/ SVSFoundationAwards. Visit vascular.org/ DistinguishedFellows for more information.

SVS DEI COMMITTEE LAUNCHES ‘VOICES OF VASCULAR’ SERIES

TO HELP CELEBRATE THE DIVERSITY in the vascular surgery specialty, the Society for Vascular Surgery Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee has launched “Voices of Vascular,” a series highlighting the contributions of surgeons from a wide variety of backgrounds.

“Voices” debuts this month, during the celebration of Black History Month. The initiative will highlight the stories of SVS members while also emphasizing patient education and awareness and sharing healthrelated facts and information pertinent to the community. The series will continue throughout the year.

SVS members from all backgrounds are invited to share their stories (or nominate someone else) by filling out the form available at vascular.org/VoicesForm. The SVS Foundation added a new fourth pillar for DEI in 2022. The “Voices of Vascular” series is aimed at helping to raise awareness as the Foundation works to raise funds to support DEI initiatives. The first profiles will be available at vascular.org/VoicesOfVascular

Emory Trainee Collects Savs Founders Award

Emory University, Atlanta, vascular fellow Emma Rooney, is flanked by Southern Association for Vascular Surgery (SAVS) annual meeting moderators Adam Beck, MD, left, and Salvatore Scali, MD.

Get ‘Gatsby’ Gala tickets today

TICKETS—BOTH INDIVIDUAL AND for tables—are selling faster than a Gin Rickey during Prohibition for the Society for Vascular Surgery Foundation’s “Great Gatsby Gala,” to be held at the 2023 Vascular Annual Meeting (VAM).

From Feb. 3 to 18, individual tickets are $550. Starting Feb. 19, ticket prices will increase to $600 each. Standard price tables have sold out. Limited VIP tables ($7,500), Gold “champion” tables ($12,000) and Platinum tables ($20,000) remain. The evening will include the Surgeon Speakeasy Cocktail Reception, including cocktails (A Bee’s Knees or Hemingway Daiquiri, anyone?) and passed hors d’oeuvres, Gatsby-inspired performers and more; three-course dinner with wine service; live and silent auctions and dancing. All proceeds will benefit the SVS Foundation and its efforts to fund the future of vascular health through its four pillars of research and innovation; community vascular care and patient education; disease prevention; and diversity, equity and inclusion.

Besides general tickets and table sales, SVS has sponsorship opportunities and table ticket levels available, including Young Surgeons/Fellows Table Sponsor, Dinner, Wine and Entertainment Sponsor, and Surgeon Speakeasy Sponsor. To learn more about these opportunities, contact Scott Behm at sbehm@vascularsociety.org

For more information and to purchase tickets, scan the QR code or visit vascular. org/2023gala

THE MARCH ISSUES OF THE Journal of Vascular Surgery (JVS) and JVS: Venous and Lymphatic Disorders (JVS-VL) include eight articles that will be available via free-access by Feb. 21 (JVS-VL) and Feb. 23 (JVS). The fully accessible peer-review papers are as follows:

Jvs

1. “Early peripheral vascular interventions for claudication are associated with higher rates of late interventions and progression to CLTI,” Editor’s Choice, with a visual abstract. Visit vascular. org/JVS-ClaudicationCTLIMarch23

2. “Females are less likely to receive best medical therapy for stroke prevention before and after carotid revascularization than males,” with a visual abstract and continuing medical education (CME) credit possible. This paper is set to be featured on an episode of the popular Audible Bleeding podcast. Visit vascular.org/JVS-Gende redMedicalManagementMarch23

3. “Comparison of upper extremity and transfemoral access for fenestratedbranched endovascular aortic repair,” with a visual abstract. Visit vascular. org/JVS-F-BEVARMarch23

4. “Mortality analysis of endovascular aneurysm sealing versus endovascular aneurysm repair,” with a visual abstract. Visit vascular.org/JVSMoralityAnalysisMarch23

JVS-VL

In memoriam

Spot Light

GREGORY DOMER, MD, has been named chair of vascular surgery for the Deborah Heart and Lung Center in Browns Mills, New Jersey. He also will serve as director of the center’s vascular surgery fellowship program. He previously was director of the fellowship program and an attending vascular surgeon at St. Luke’s University Health Network in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, as well as medical director of vascular surgery at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Meanwhile, members JOHN C. LANTISII, MD, and MATTHEW G. GAROUFALIS, DPM, have been named to the newly formed Medical Advisory Board for Arch Therapeutics, Inc., which is a developer of wound care and biosurgical products.

Former SVS President WILLIAM ABBOTT MD, 86, of Weston, Massachusetts, Jan. 9. He was the first chief of vascular surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital and became a professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School, Harvard University. Abbott served as SVS president in 1998. Fellow SVS member Richard Cambria, MD, was a vascular fellow with Abbot and was hired by him to the vascular surgery staff. “Bill’s leadership brought the vascular division at MGH to national prominence,” said Cambria.

U.S. Navy Capt. DONALD D. BELL, MD, 84, of Norfolk, Nebraska, on Jan. 9. He practiced in California from 1974 to 1994, before relocating to Norfolk. He served two tours of duty as a medical officer in the Navy. His family said, “His legacy will continue, forever reminding us that life is about taking action and that a life full of meaningful acts of love and service to yourself and others is not only possible, but worth emulating.”

1. “Clinical tolerance of untreated reflux after iliac vein stent placement.” Visit vascular.org/JVSVLLilacVeinStentMarch23

2. “Percutaneous superior vena cava puncture for hemodialysis catheter placement.” Visit vascular.org/JVSVLSuperiorVenaCavaPunctureMarch23

3. “Venous stent patency is independent of total stented length in nonthrombotic iliac vein and postthrombotic venous stenoses,” Editor’s Choice and CME credit possible. Visit vascular.org/JVSVL-StentMarch23

4. “A practice audit of short-term outcomes of Wallstent versus Venovo stents for the treatment of non-thrombotic iliac vein outflow stenoses.” Visit vascular.org/JVSVLIliacVeinOutflowMarch23

MID-TERM RESULTS FROM A PHASE II study of surgical bypass using the Human Acellular Vessel (HAV) demonstrated an overall secondary patency rate at 72 months of 60% measured by Kaplan Meier. There was no evidence of graft rejection or infection, the authors reported.

Humacyte, the biotechnology platform company behind the product, said the publication describes the long-term analysis of the clinical trial as it evaluates the bioengineered HAV as a conduit in patients with symptomatic peripheral artery disease (PAD).

The research team, led by first-named author Piotr Gutowski, MD, from the Department of Vascular Surgery at Pomeranian Medical University of Szczecin in Szczecin, Poland, concluded that “the infection-resistant, offthe-shelf human acellular vessel could provide a durable alternative conduit in the arterial circuit setting, to restore lower extremity blood supply in patients with peripheral artery disease.” The results were recently published in the Journal of Vascular Surgery-Vascular Science (JVS-VS).

No patients underwent amputation of the affected limb out to six years, they found, and none reported pain at rest or ischemic ulcers on the affected legs. Gutowski et al reported that “these data have demonstrated the durability of the HAV and suggest the occurrence of cellular remodeling by the host.”

Gutowski commented: “Synthetic grafts can be limited due to poorly matched mechanical compliance, risk of infection, and variable patency rates. Furthermore, cryopreserved allogenic grafts are limited due to poor durability, thrombosis, and mechanical degradation. The HAV is designed to be consistent in size, durable in high-pressure circulation, show no clinical immunological response, and remodel with the patient’s own cells.”

The HAV has been evaluated in eight clinical studies in the U.S., Europe and Israel, including an ongoing phase II/III clinical trial in vascular trauma and an ongoing phase III trial as a dialysis access graft in end-stage kidney disease. The HAV is an investigational product and has not been approved for sale by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).