Growing the vascular surgical practice: venous disorders

For the 48th meeting of the International Society for Cardiovascular Surger y, North American Chapter in June 2000, we were asked to organize a present ation with the title displayed above. We welcomed this opportunity because the phrase 'growing the practice' literally means giving greater service to underserved patients with vascular disorders. Underserved individuals with vascular disorders include those with nonatherosclerotic arterial disorder s, patients with lymphedema, and individuals with a variety of venous disor ders including venous insufficiency. The majority of these conditions are n ot surgical, but venous insufficiency commands attention because its treatm ents are interventional. Therefore, this presentation will discuss prevalen ce of venous insufficiency, a unifying concept of its pathophysiology, how treatment may be selected, what the new technology provides, and then a des cription of coding issues and whether or not interventions are actually wor thwhile from the point of view of the patient. (C) 2001 The International S ociety for Cardiovascular Surgery. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All r ights reserved.