25 anner M ily p l A 8 fo r d a #V to page Turn
In this issue:
2 T ADV 10 VQI Comparative analysis Analysis on PVI vs. probes worth of modality bypass in AIOD
4V ESS 12 Gallery Lower extremity access Day one at VAM 2025 during BEVAR in pictures 6C MS 15 Women’s Section Medicare reimbursement Navigating issues in and vascular care aortic dissection
THURSDAY, JUNE 5, 2025 | NEW ORLEANS CONFERENCE EDITION 2
THE OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE OPENING CEREMONY
www.vascularspecialistonline.com
SPOT LIGHT
VON LEIBIG
NO POWER, NO PROBLEM! VAM 2025 PIVOTS AS EARLY-MORNING POWER OUTAGE DELAYS MEETING OPENING By Bryan Kay THE VASCULAR SURGERY world is used to pivoting on a dime. So it was as VAM 2025 was about to commence yesterday morning, and power outage problems led to a delayed start to this year’s SVS annual meeting. “We talk in vascular surgery about having to have multiple plans as we go into the operating room,” quipped SVS President Matthew Eagleton, MD, as attendees corralled into an alternative meeting room due to the technical difficulties besetting the main plenary hall. “Welcome to plan C,” he added to a chorus of audience laughter. “This is just a test to see if you can get your steps in for the [SVS] Step Challenge. So, in about 30 seconds, we are going to walk back to the other room. Welcome to VAM 2025, our new motto: No power, no problem!” On a more serious note, Eagleton reminded members that voting in this year’s leadership elections for SVS vice president and secretary ends at midday on Thursday. “If you have not voted, stop by one of the QR places and register your vote,” he said. Across VAM’s four days of programming, a total of 62 plenary papers and 21 postgraduate education sessions populate the program. “The vision of the VAM program is to provide all of you with the best science impacting vascular surgical care for all of the membership,” said SVS Program Committee chair Jason Lee, MD. “We are committed to making sure this program is fair and that the process remains transparent to allow everybody’s voice to be heard.”
Mark Farber delivers VAM 2025’s opening plenary paper
One-year TAMBE data highlight low mortality, importance of renal branch assessment By Jocelyn Hudson
T
he four-branch Gore Excluder thoracoabdominal branch endoprosthesis (TAMBE) device demonstrated low mortality at one year with renal artery occlusion being the predominant device-related event associated with small renal arteries and pararenal aneurysms. So concluded Mark A. Farber, MD, presenting the latest TAMBE data during yesterday’s William J. von Liebig Forum. Drawing a take-home message from the new findings—which were simultaneously published online in the Journal of Vascular Surgery (JVS)— Farber advised: “During follow-up, attention should be focused on renal branch assessment to identify patients at risk for occlusion.” The chief of the Division of Vascular Surgery and professor of surgery at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was presenting one-year results from the pivotal trial of the Gore TAMBE to treat extent IV thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms (TAAAs) and pararenal aortic
aneurysms (PRAAs). Farber detailed that this prospective, non-randomized, multicenter study included 102 patients, 59 of whom had an extent IV TAAA and 43, a PRAA, adding that the mean maximum aneurysm diameter was 59.4mm. The presenter shared that, at one year, eight patients were lost to follow-up and six patients died, specifying that one death was device-related, one was procedure-related, and four were due to unrelated causes. He stated that, in total, 88 patients completed a follow-up visit at one year. Moving on to key results, Farber revealed that freedom from all-cause mortality at one year was 94.1% and that target vessel occlusions occurred in 14.7% of patients. This figure included one celiac artery, one superior mesenteric artery (SMA), eight right renal and six left renal artery occlusions. Farber continued that reintervention was
See page 2
Day 2
HIGHLIGHTS
The second day of VAM 2025 starts in earnest at 6:30 a.m. with a series of sessions through 8 a.m., including a General Surgery Resident Session, the International Chapter Education Session, two Medical Student Sessions and a breakfast for the SVS sections. Special session Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Vascular Surgery—Everything You Need to Know, from Innovative Idea to Intellectual Property kicks off at 7 a.m., as does JVS Confidential Revise vs. Reject. The Society for Vascular Nursing (SVN) Annual Conference continues into its second day, taking place from 7–11:30 a.m. At the same time, the day’s new science starts with Plenary Session 3, running until 9:30 a.m. with a series of papers that include opener, “Endovascular aortic arch repair with the Nexus endografts: Results from the Italian Nexus Aortic Arch Endovascular Repair Registry (INARCHER).” Crossroads@VAM activities begin at 8 a.m. and all run with some of the vascular surgery world’s largest device companies, while the muchanticipated Roy Greenberg Distinguished Lecture on Innovation, to be delivered by Sherene Shalhub, MD, kicks off at 9:30 a.m. The annual Awards Ceremony follows at 10 a.m. and the Career Fair starts at 10:15 a.m. The Exhibit Hall makes its grand opening today, swinging open to attendees also at 10:15 a.m. Plenary Session 4 is up at 10:45 a.m. Into the afternoon the “How I Do It” Video Session begins at 1:30 p.m., which is also when the Managing Vascular Graft Infections Without Loss of Limb or Life! session kicks off. The Women’s Section: Challenges in Current Aortic Dissection Management session also takes place at 1:30 p.m., while the Young Surgeons Section has its own slot at 3:30 p.m. Turn to page p. 8 for the full day’s schedule.