Understanding radiation exposure and improving safety for vascular surgery trainees.

Objective: Despite having robust radiation safety education procedures and policies in place, we discovered that the trainees at our Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-approved integrated vascular surgery residency and fellowship program were exceeding the annual radiation exposure limits. In the present report, we have described our quality improvement project to identify the root causes and implement policies to improve radiation safety education, oversite, and, ultimately, the exposure levels of our trainees.

Methods: A committee of faculty, fellows, radiology nurses, and radiation safety officers from each of the programs affiliated hospitals convened to identify the potential root causes of the increased radiation exposure and potential modifiable actions.

National survey of vascular surgery residents and fellows on radiation exposure and safety practices.

Objective: The objective of the present study was to evaluate radiation safety practices, radiation training, and radiation exposure among senior vascular residents and fellows in Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-accredited programs across the United States.

Methods: Anonymous surveys were sent to all Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education program directors to be distributed to postgraduate year 4 to 7 vascular trainees for completion. The survey questions focused on program type (single vs multiple hospital site), familiarity with their radiation officer, formal radiation training, frequency of radiation feedback, use of safety equipment, and adherence to as low as reasonably achievable principles.

A simplified method of pre-emptive perigraft aortic sac embolization to prevent type II endoleak using the Excluder endograft.

Pre-emptive, nonselective perigraft embolization of abdominal aortic aneurysm sac to reduce the risk of type II endoleak has been previously reported with a percutaneous technique using contralateral access with resheathing for coiling. The approach has been modified to simplify the procedure and to eliminate unnecessary sheath exchanges.

Comparison of Autologous Vein and Bovine Carotid Artery Graft as a Bypass Conduit in Arterial Trauma.

Background: Surgical revascularization is the mainstay treatment in treating most traumatic arterial injuries, and autologous great saphenous vein is widely regarded as the conduit of choice. However, the use of the great saphenous vein may be limited by many factors, and there are little data to guide management in this setting. Bovine carotid artery graft (Artegraft, Inc.