Vascular-Surgery

Vascular Surgery is a surgical speciality dealing with disorders of the blood vessels i.e., arteries, veins and lymphatics.

Complications of diabetic foot are also included in this field.

Diseases of arteries include conditions causing blockages and clots in the arteries leading to pain in the muscles on walking, gangrene of the toes / fingers with severe rest pain, strokes (if arteries to the brain get narrowed) OR abnormal balloon - like dilatation called 'aneurysm' with the risk of bursting - a life threatening condition. Smoking, hypertension, high cholesterol levels, long standing diabetes are the common causes for development of arterial diseases.

Diseases of Veins include conditions like varicose veins (abnormal dilated veins on the legs), swelling with discoloration of the ankles and legs, wounds / ulcers over the ankles and feet. Clots can develop in the deep veins and this is known as Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT), a potentially life-threatening condition if the clots migrate to the lungs - Pulmonary Embolism.

Diseases of lymphatics can lead to massive swelling of the feet / legs with thickening and folding of the skin called 'Elephantiasis'. There are effective treatments for these disorders in the form of medications, open surgery like bypass procedures or endovascular and endovenous (laser or radiofrequency ablation for varicose veins) procedures.

Complications of diabetic foot like ulcers, infections and reduced blood flow are also dealt with in vascular surgery.

Vascular access procedures like creation of arterio-venous fistulae (AVF), perm-cath insertion and management of various vascular complications are also handled by vascular surgery.