In this issue: 2G uest editorial Rebuttal: Vikram Kashyap, MD, makes the case for the benefits of a heart and vascular center
AUGUST 2025 Volume 21 Number 7
THE OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE
5V AM 2026 Vascular Annual Meeting chairs discuss pathways to the podium, posters
10 C arotid disease Not all carotid revascularization procedures are equal 18 Quality Vascular Verification Program opens doors for early engagement
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AI
IN WAKE OF PRESIDENT TRUMP’S CHRONIC VENOUS INSUFFICIENCY DIAGNOSIS, SVS STEPS UP TO EDUCATE PUBLIC By Bryan Kay
WHERE IT LANDS TODAY AND HOW IT MIGHT IMPACT THE VASCULAR FUTURE By Bryan Kay and Jocelyn Hudson
T
he speed with which artificial intelligence (AI) is beginning to envelope aspects of the human experience strikes many as jarring. Its entrance into the world of vascular surgery, too, has picked up a pace in recent years, with models and applications beginning to pop up in papers probing aspects of AI uses in care across the vasculature. But what is the extent of its abilities in vascular practice and where might AI lead the field in the future?
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NEWS THAT U.S. PRESIDENT Donald J. Trump has a vascular condition may have simultaneously revealed that a substantial seven-figure vascular surgery branding campaign was starting to yield tangible results, and provided a singular opportunity to platform the specialty as the go-to vascular experts. The Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) launched a multipronged branding effort last year in an effort to help vascular surgery become an instantly recognizable specialty inside and outside of the hospital. The Society and vascular surgeons at large have long sought avenues to broaden awareness of what a vascular surgeon does, and the comprehensive and longitudinal nature of the care they provide after a patient is diagnosed with a vascular condition. Well, opportunity knocks: when it was revealed to the world in mid-July that the president had been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency (CVI), vascular disease was thrown into the media grinder and the press corps began dissecting what CVI is, what it means and what the prognosis might be. Step forward vascular surgery. In the immediate aftermath of the news breaking, vascular surgeons began populating the pages and airwaves of the world’s media. They laid out the facts of CVI and what Trump might—or might not—be looking at down the road. Vascular surgery, vascular surgeons and the SVS were name-checked across the news media, from international broadcast platforms like the BBC, to domestic newspaper powerhouses such as the New York Times. That broad footprint, says William Shutze, MD, who led the SVS branding
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