[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"1323","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","style":"width: 460px; height: 296px; float: right; margin-left: 6px; margin-right: 6px;","typeof":"foaf:Image"}}]]June 19, 2017 (UPDATED) - The 2017 Vascular Annual Meeting in San Diego, Calif., held May 31-June 3, broke all previous attendance records with a final, professional registration total of more than 1,807, the Society for Vascular Surgery has announced.

Final counts for 2017 found that:

The Society for Vascular Surgery has learned that Medicare will begin paying for supervised exercise therapy. Here is the CMS announcement:

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has determined that the evidence is sufficient to cover supervised exercise therapy (SET) for beneficiaries with intermittent claudication (IC) for the treatment of symptomatic peripheral artery disease (PAD). Up to 36 sessions over a 12 week period are covered if all of the following components of a SET program are met:

"Predictors of surgical site infection after open lower extremity revascularization.” Journal of Vascular Surgery, June, 2017.

CHICAGO, Illinois, June, 2017 – During lower extremity revascularization, high-risk surgical patients experience significant rates of wound infection, prolonged hospital stay and readmission, as well as graft failure and limb loss.

Liability insurance is a fact of life for surgeons. The Society for Vascular Surgery is proud to now offer access to top-notch healthcare liability insurance for members and their practices and institutions.

Our Vascular Annual Meeting has plenty to occupy attendees from morning to evening. But before and after VAM, and for family members during the meeting, San Diego beckons.

With this issue of the Vascular Specialist, the SVS pages are focused primarily on the upcoming Vascular Annual Meeting in San Diego. The end of May will be here before we know it, and with it, the start of our most important scientific meeting of the year.

This year is the first for the Alexander W. Clowes Distinguished Lecture, and will be delivered by William Sessa, Ph.D. Each year, the lecture recipient will be an esteemed vascular biologist or vascular surgeon-scientist who has demonstrated an exceptional commitment to research in vascular disease and who exemplified the qualities of Dr. Clowes.

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"1297","field_deltas":{},"link_text":null,"attributes":{"height":90,"width":437,"style":"width: 300px; height: 62px; float: right; border-width: 2px; border-style: solid; margin: 2px;","class":"media-image media-element file-media-large","data-delta":"1"},"fields":{}}]]For the first time since the 2013 Vascular Annual Meeting in San Francisco, SVS and The Society of Thoracic Surgeons are teaming up to present a summit on aortic topics of mutual interest and expertise.

An excellent surgeon. A vascular scientist regarded as one of the best. And an even finer human being.

All of the above describe the late Alexander Whitehill Clowes, MD, who died of a brain glioblastoma in July 2015 at age 68.

“The Matrix” is more than a movie. It’s also part of the May 3 Vascular Research Initiatives Conference in Minneapolis, Minn.

“Matrix Revolution: Vascular Repair and Regeneration,” is the title of the Translational Panel at VRIC, to be moderated by SVS President Dr. Ronald Fairman. Dr. Christopher K. Breuer will speak on "Development of Tissue Engineered Grafts for Use in Congenital Heart Surgery” and Jeffrey Lawson will discuss "Human Tissue Engineered Blood Vessels: Clinical Experience in Dialysis Access and Arterial Disease."