2006 Volume 15 Issue 7 Pages 591-595
Background: A board of accreditation for cardiovascular surgery was established 2 years ago in Japan. However, this board is mainly focused on cardiac surgery. Vascular diseases have been increasing with the increase of elderly people and diabetic patients in recent years, but are not a major concern in the present criteria of the cardiovascular board of accreditation. Therefore, it is necessary to organize an exclusive board of accreditation for vascular surgery in order to achieve a standard and quality of treatment for vascular diseases. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of vascular cases admitted in our hospital in the last 10 years. We analyzed their background and their treatments was performed. Based on the results of this study, we make a proposal for an exclusive board of accreditation for vascular surgery. Methods: The vascular patients, admitted in our department were divided into two groups; the early period from 1996 to 2000, and the late period from 2001 to 2005. The number of patients with their complications, characteristics of their diseases, and their treatments including surgery were analyzed and compared in both periods. Results: The numbers of the vascular patients and vascular operations have increased. Operations for the thoracic aorta and vascular reconstruction for the arterial occlusive disease have been more frequently performed in the later period. The number of patients complicated with diabetes mellitus or regular hemodialysis also has increased, especially in patients suffering from arterial occlusive diseases. Catheter intervention for the aortoiliac occlusive disease was applied more frequently in the later period, and the vasculogenic treatment with bone marrow injection started also in the late period. Conclusion: The board of vascular surgery needs to include the experiences of, 1) the management of the cardiopulmonary bypass for the operation of the thoracic aorta, 2) vascular reconstruction of the tibial arteries, 3) treatment of the high-risk patients with diabetes mellitus and regular hemodialysis, and 4) new techniques such as catheter intervention and vasculogenic therapy. The relationship with the present board of cardiovascular surgery needs to be determined through further discussion.
