Vascular Specialists To Meet To Discuss All Key Advances In Vascular Disease
July 17, 2017
International specialists in vascular disease, including vascular surgeons, interventional radiologists, interventional cardiologists, and other specialists, are expected to be on hand for the 37th Annual VEITHsymposium, which will be held November 17 - 21 at the Hilton New York. The five-day event will feature more than 450 rapid-fire presentations from world-renowned vascular specialists with emphasis on the latest advances, changing concepts in diagnosis and management, pressing controversies, and new techniques.
The extended length and unique format of the VEITHsymposium enables the program to span the breadth of diseases, conditions, diagnostic procedures, and medical interventions that comprise the landscape for vascular medicine. That includes treatment and management of patients with diseases of the veins and arteries, such as aneurysms, vessel blockage, traumatic lesions, thromboembolism, ischemia, stroke, peripheral arterial disease (PAD), carotid stenosis, and varicose veins; wound care, vascular access and other treatments of vascular problems or diseases approachable via the vascular system like cancer.
This year's VEITHsymposium occurs against the backdrop of the passage of the current administration's health care reform package. The implications of those reform measures for vascular specialists are likely to generate considerable discussion among the participants.
Another topic that will certainly draw attention is the continuing controversy over the therapeutic value of a number of interventional treatments for cardiovascular disease. Results from the Carotid Revascularization Endarterectomy versus Stenting Trial (CREST), published this May in the New England Journal of Medicine, purported to show that stenting was equally effective to the more conventional surgical endarterectomy for the treatment of carotid atherosclerosis and prevention of stroke. Nevertheless, some experts question this interpretation of these findings and continue to espouse surgery over stenting as the preferred treatment for most patients with symptomatic carotid stenosis and medical treatment for asymptomatic carotid stenosis. Meanwhile, another major clinical study that could provide further evidence to the issue, the Transatlantic Asymptomatic Carotid Intervention Trial (TACIT), remains in limbo owing to lack of funding support; TACIT seeks to compare not only stenting with endarterectomy but also optimal medical treatment with statins, antiplatelet and antihypertensive agents for the management of carotid stenosis in asymptomatic patients.
Frank J. Veith, M.D., founder and Chairman of the VEITHsymposium, Professor of Surgery and William J. Von Liebig Chair in Vascular Surgery at New York University and The Cleveland Clinic and the first US surgeon to perform an endovascular aneurysm repair notes, "This is a most exciting time for those interested in the management of patients with vascular disease. There are many new and exciting developments. There are many controversial issues. All these will be highlighted and examined in depth at his year's VEITHsymposium. Attending this year's meeting is most important for all specialists from around the world who are interested in the field of vascular diseases.
SIDEBAR:
CAS vs. CEA
With the debate still raging over stenting versus endarterectomy for carotid stenosis, a number of sessions at the VEITHsymposium tackle the issues, with the treatments themselves and the methodologies of the trials that have been used to determine their effectiveness, such as:
- CREST: What Are The Implications And Why?
- Symptomatic Carotid Disease: How I Choose Between CEA And CAS
- Asymptomatic Carotid Disease: When To Treat And Why
- The Woes Of CAS Are Not Fully Solved By CREST: When Is CAS Justified And
When And Why Is It Not?
- Subanalysis of CREST Results Are Important: Were There Differences Between CAS And CEA In 1) Quality Of Life And 2) Cost Effectiveness; What Were The Severity And Disability From The MIs And The Cranial Nerve Injuries: A Neurologist's Perspective
- Will The TACIT Trial Ever Be Done?
- Why All The Landmark Trials Supporting CEA To Prevent Strokes From Carotid Stenosis Are Obsolete: When Is Carotid Intervention Indicated?
- How Can The CREST And ICSS Results Be Reconciled?
A potpourri: MS, stem cells, gene therapy, social media, and red wine to include:
- Treatment Of Multiple Sclerosis By Interventional Procedures To Reduce Venous Obstruction: When Is It Helpful And When Is It Not?
- Update On Stem Cell Therapy For CLI And Heart Failure: Will It Work?
- Update On The Status Of Gene Therapy For CLI: Will It Work?
- Progress In Bone Marrow Cell Treatment For CLI: It's Not All Smoke And Mirrors And It May Save Limbs
- The Social (Public) Media And Their Impact On Patient Care, Patient Recruitment And Patient-Physician Interaction
- Is Red Wine Really Helpful For Vascular Disease Patients: Why And What Dose Is Best?
Debating Health Care Reform at the VEITHsymposium
A key element of both the stimulus program (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) and health care reform (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010) is comparative effectiveness research (CER), which compares different medical interventions for specific conditions to determine which provides the most benefit. Listed here are some of the scheduled presentations at the 2010 VEITHsymposium that address CER:
- Update On Outcomes Of Fistula vs. Graft For Hemodialysis Access
- How Should We Approach The "Comparative Effectiveness" Issue? Do Our Interventions Affect The Progression Of Disease? Can The Registries Organized By The American Venous Forum Help?
- Current Statistics From American Venous Forum Screening Program: If We Find More Disease Can Society Pay For It?
- Anticoagulation Is Best For Most DVT Patients: The Only Reason For The Endovascular Treatment Of DVT Is To Provide Business For Interventionalists
- Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Is More Effective Clinically And In Terms Of Cost Than Compression Treatment For Refractory Venous Ulcers
Other presentations related to health care reform include:
- Stroke Reimbursement: Is It Worth It?
- Is The Medical Inquisition Here To Stay: State And Federal Governments, The ACCME, ADVAMED And Some Universities Are Imposing Unfair Restrictions On Physicians And Industry Which Will Prevent Physician Education And Harm Patients: This Witch Hunt Must Stop
- Impact Of Health Care Reform On Vascular Surgery And Its Practice
- What Is Health Care Reform All About: Will It Hurt Vascular Surgery, Health Care In General And Our Country: How?
- A View From Industry: The Negative Impact And Unintended Consequences Of Health Care Reform: What Can Be Done About It?
Source:
VEITHsymposium