Thank you all for your willingness to take time out of your busy days to answer my questions.
@LucidSplash that is an awesome list. It seems like there's a lot of breadth in the realm of vascular surgical interventions.
@Radz123, thanks for your insight regarding the income for endovascular proceduralists. I had no doubt that they made that they made a substantial amount of money, so that was reaffirming.
@mimelim thank you for offering your insight. Currently it seems that there is a lot of carotid work for vascular surgeons, but you stated that "CAS is likely a lot safer than it was in the original trials. But, as safe as CEA? Hard to say if it will get to that point." - What if it does get to that point? Is it possible that with improved technique in the coming years that carotid stenting (vs. CEA) and other endovascular procedures (ie, bypass vs. angioplasty/atherectomy/stenting for PAD) will be perfected to the degree that open vascular interventions will only become used on an "only if
absolutely needed" basis and will fall out of favor in treatment algorithms?
I just watched the 2016 Presidential Address and found it
incredibly inspiring. It is exciting to hear someone speak with such intense compassion regarding the care of their patients. However, while the future was discussed in terms of demand (ie, "we need more vascular surgeons to handle the aging population"), not much was discussed in terms of operative advances, development of novel techniques, and new technology to treat this growing elderly population. For example, I've heard that there is a percutaneous approach for AV fistula formation being developed. This sounds like something that other interventional proceduralists might be able to perform if adequately trained. Are there techniques being developed by Vacular Surgeons that, in the future, will be exclusive to their field? I know you guys can't see into the future, but based on your "best guess" (and outside of strictly emergency situations), do you see open vascular interventions thriving over the next 20 years? If not, is there leadership in Vascular Surgery pushing for its field to have total control over the domain of particular endovascular interventions?
Thank you all for your insight. This has been very helpful.