Phlebolymphology N°62

Preface

By the members of the Medical Reporters’ Academy This report from the XXIIIrd World Congress of the International Union of Angiology (IUA), which was held in Athens, Greece, from June 21 to 25, 2008, has been prepared by our Medical Reporters’ Academy (MRA) group. We are an international group of young specialists with a core interest in venous disease. We work in various fields including dermatology and internal medicine in addition to the more directly related areas of angiology and vascular surgery, not to mention phlebology itself. We all have hospital practices and come from countries around the world (Czech…

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Phlebolymphology N°62 (Vol 16 – N°1 – 2009)

  Special congress issue XXIII World Congress of the International Union on Angiology Athens, Greece – 21-25 June 2008 Preface 1. Investigation 2. Cerebrovascular diseases and disease of the thoracic aorta 3. Cardiovascular diseases 4. Peripheral arterial disease 5. Venous thromboembolic diseases 6. Chronic venous disease and lymphatics 7. Compression therapy

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1 – Investigation

Vascular Centers in 2008: team approach to medicine, surgery and endovascular intervention Chairman: R Simkin (Argentina) Lecture by P Gloviczki (USA) In the spirit of the words of Dr. William P. Mayo—“No one is big enough to be independent of others”—P Gloviczki described the new model of multidisciplinary teams in the treatment of vascular patients. With this aim, P Gloviczki and the Mayo Clinic created the Mayo Clinic Gonda Vascular Center in 1991. At the center patients with vascular diseases receive high-quality medical, endovascular, and open surgical treatment by appropriate experts working as a coordinated team. The principal advantages are…

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2 – Cerebrovascular diseases and disease of the thoracic aorta

Cerebrovascular diseases Beyond endarterectomy, is there a better option for management of carotid disease? Lecture by J Fernandes e Fernandes (Portugal) In the first part of his lecture, Professor Fernandes presented the results of several trials analyzing medical treatment versus open surgery in the treatment of carotid artery stenosis. He listed the indications for open surgery in symptomatic and asymptomatic patients, and recommended the use of carotid ultrasound as a test of choice. If ultrasound does not produce a clear-cut result, the preoperative study should be completed by angio computed tomography (aCT) and nuclear magnetic resonance (MR) and, only in…

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3 – Cardiovascular diseases

Cardiovascular diseases and prevention Metabolic syndrome-managing the patient at cardiometabolic risk Moderators: E Diamantopoulos (Greece), S Novo (Italy) Participants: E Diamantopoulos (Greece), A Nicolaides (Cyprus), A Trichopoulou (Greece), S Novo (Italy), U Pagotto (Italy) E Diamantopoulos presented an introduction to various definitions of metabolic syndrome. Despite sometimes confusing criteria, every definition has the same core components: abdominal obesity, impaired fasting glucose tolerance, dyslipidemia and arterial hypertension. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome is almost the same in all countries: around 20-25%. From the pathophysiological point of view, visceral fat accumulation and consequent insulin resistance seems to have pivotal roles. It was…

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4 – Peripheral arterial disease

Atherothrombotic risk associated with peripheral arterial disease New developments in the management of atherothrombotic risk associated with peripheral arterial disease Moderators: J Belch (Scotland), D Clement (Belgium) Participants: J Belch (Scotland), P Cacoub (France), D Clement (Belgium), E Wahlberg (Sweden) Peripheral arterial disease today: what do the registries tell us? P Cacoub (France) The author emphasized the importance of data from registries and epidemiological studies to understand the prevalence of, and risk associated with, peripheral arterial disease (PAD) in different populations. The target population is large: in the IPSILON study, which included 5679 patients (aged >55 years) treated in the…

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5 – Venous thromboembolic diseases

Venous thromboembolism and guidelines Prophylaxis and treatment of venous thromboembolism (VTE)? Moderators: MM Samama (France), A Katsamouris (Greece) Participants: MM Samama (France),W Leong (Canada), J Walenga (USA), J Fareed (USA) Regarding prophylaxis and treatment of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in special populations, MM Samama in his presentation focused on pregnant women with confirmed VTE or at risk of VTE. It is well known that pulmonary embolism is a major cause of maternal mortality. Moreover in pregnancy the risk of VTE is 5- to 10-fold higher than in the non-pregnant population, the risk being much higher after delivery. Therefore, there is a…

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6 – Chronic venous disease and lymphatics

Veins and their impact on the cardiovascular system Chairman: A.T. Guillaumon (Brazil) Lecture by D. Clement (Belgium) The venous system returns blood from various organs and tissues to the heart. The venous circulation is regulated at two levels. Local control is achieved by neurohormones (noradrenaline, histamine, serotonin, etc.), physical factors (temperature change), and the mechanical properties of the venous wall (valves, flexibility, deformability). A number of these mechanisms have genetic determinants. Central regulation of the venous circulation is carried out by the reflex arcs including peripheral baroreceptors and muscle receptors. For example, rhythmic muscle contraction activates muscle receptors, thus causing…

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7 – Compression therapy

Elastic compression and intermittent pneumatic compression Moderators: G Geroulakos (UK), J Caprini (USA) Participants: J Caprini (USA), G Geroulakos (UK), S Kakkos (UK), H Partsch (Austria) This very instructive session about the role of compression therapy in prevention and treatment of different vascular disorders started with J Caprini’s. presentation, which dealt with intermittent pneumatic compression for the prevention of venous thromboembolism (VTE). He first emphasized the importance of history taking and physical examination for every patient in order to assess individual risk using validated scoring systems. It is also mandatory to have a checklist of bleeding risk in these patients…

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