Validating the Clinical Value of Temporal Artery Biopsy.

Background: Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is a potentially devastating disease that may require treatment with high-dose steroids. Traditionally, diagnosis requires patients to meet at least 3 of 5 clinical criteria, one of which is a positive temporal artery biopsy (TAB). Vascular surgeons are often asked to perform TAB though it is not necessarily required for diagnosis or management.

Spontaneous brachial artery pseudoaneurysm secondary to vasculitis.

Background: Avoiding operative intervention during the active phase of vasculitis is a central tenant of management of this pathology. For unusual presentations of vascular disease, the early diagnosis of vasculitis is imperative to guide treatment.

Methods: We present the case of a 68-year-old female who presented with a spontaneous brachial artery pseudoaneurysm and was found to have granulomatosis with polyangiitis.

Recurrent upper extremity acute limb ischemia secondary to retained axillary polytetrafluoroethylene cuff causing axillary stump syndrome.

Acute limb ischemia of the upper extremity is less frequently encountered than in the lower extremity. The etiology is typically cardioembolic. Axillary-femoral stump syndrome is a rare complication associated with an occluded axillary-femoral bypass graft.

Poly-Specialty Application Practices of Medical Students Applying to Integrated Vascular Surgery Residency.

Background: It is not uncommon for medical students seeking surgical residencies to apply to and rank two or more surgical specialties. Level of interest in a specialty is consistently cited as one of the most important factors for program directors when evaluating applicants for 0 + 5 integrated vascular surgery (IVS) programs. The purpose of this study was to examine trends in poly-specialty application submission to IVS and poly-specialty ranking of IVS to determine the percentage of applicants to IVS residencies with vascular surgery as their true preference.

Herpes wound infection after femoral endarterectomy.

Wound infection after common femoral endarterectomy is a well-documented phenomenon leading to significant morbidity, especially in the setting of a prosthetic graft. A push has recently been made in the literature for salvage of the prosthetic graft using debridement, antibiotics, and vacuum-assisted closure therapy. Herein we present the case of wound infection after common femoral endarterectomy with bovine patch angioplasty initially presumed to be of bacterial origin that failed to respond to vacuum-assisted closure therapy until the viral nature of the pathogen was discovered.