Vascular specialist response to Medicare Evidence Development Coverage Advisory Committee (MEDCAC) panel on peripheral artery disease of the lower extremities

Patient‐level meta‐analysis of 999 claudicants undergoing primary femoropopliteal nitinol stent implantation

“…Patients with intermittent claudication suffer significant disability, on par with the severity of New York Heart Association Class III congestive heart failure or severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease . Moreover, there is consensus among multispecialty guidelines documents that supervised exercise should be considered as a first line therapy and be offered to all patients with claudication and the risk benefit ratio of any intervention (endovascular or surgical) be carefully assessed. Data from comparative trials of exercise and intervention have supported the notion that neither therapy alone commonly restores full function nor normal quality of life and the combination likely improves outcomes better than either separately .…”

The 2016 AHA/ACC Guideline on the Management of Patients with Lower Extremity Peripheral Artery Disease: An interview with SVM members of the writing committee

“…Scott Kinlay: The writing committee recognized the importance of early revascularization for CLI in conjunction with Vascular Medicine 22 (2) wound healing therapies to prevent limb loss, and medical therapies to prevent cardiovascular ischemic events. The committee did not make overall recommendations on the type of revascularization (endovascular versus open surgical) as the only randomized comparison (the BASIL trial) suggested similar amputation-free survival and included the use of only balloon angioplasty.…”

“…Medicare is currently reviewing a request for a coverage decision on supervised exercise programs, and many SVM members commented during a period of public comment on this topic. 2,3 We are optimistic that coverage may be a reality in the near future. Third, the committee recommended that future device trials include patient-centered outcomes, including wound healing and quality of life metrics.…”

Presidential Address: 28th Annual Scientific Sessions of the Society for Vascular Medicine

“…During the first few months of my presidency in 2015, I was honored to represent our Society at the MEDCAC meeting to examine the scientific evidence of interventions that aim to improve the health outcomes in the Medicare population focusing on peripheral artery disease (PAD). 1 Also attending with me were SVM members Jim Froehlich, Josh Beckman, Michael Jaff, Mehdi Shishehbor, Kenny Rosenfield, Herb Aronow, and Robert Lookstein. This was a multispecialty group effort representing a number of different societies, including the American College of Radiology (ACR), Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI), Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR), Vascular and Interventional Advances (VIVA), and SVM.…”