Andrew, in his role as abstract committee chairman for the Asian Society for Vascular Surgery congress, Singapore, October 2016, judging the poster presentation competition.
“Vascular surgery is grounded in evidence based practice, and necessarily so. The risks of vascular intervention are among the most serious in all surgical practice. Death, stroke, myocardial infarction, paraplegia, and limb loss are all known complications of vascular surgery. The benefits of intervention against the risk and complications of doing so have to be constantly weighed in the best interests of the patient. This is most apparent in aneurysmal surgery where risk of rupture is always calculated against the risk of surgery. Without an extensive evidence base, it would be impossible to furnish patients with the information required to make informed decisions about their conditions.”
Why is research important?
RISK versus benefit
Vascular, endovascular and aortic surgery is particularly unique because many of our interventions are prophylactic. That is to say, we perform an operation to prevent a potential worse outcome that MAY arise, by NOT intervening. This is in stark contrast to almost every other surgical discipline and is fundamental to vascular practice.
Therefore every decision to operate, or not, is fundamentally, a risk versus benefit analysis. These decisions are ALL based on research data. Only those most familiar with these studies and those that perform research themselves, are in the best position to understand the plethora of data, filter the information and present it to patients and colleagues alike in an easily understandable way.
progressing knowledge and understanding
It stands to reason that vascular surgical research should be performed by vascular surgeons. The only way we can improve patient care and surgical outcomes is to constantly evolve our knowledge and understanding of the disease processes that affect patients. The only way to do this, is by being an active and committed researcher as well as clinician.
mentorship
Academic vascular surgery is not for everyone. It is arduous and rigorous. It requires the highest levels of commitment to patients first and foremost, but following that, academic endeavour. However, one of the main responsibilities of an academic vascular surgeon is to train the next generation of doctors to realise the importance of excellent patient care AND academic pursuit. To this end, Andrew founded SingVaSC, a consultant led, medical student and junior doctor delivered, international vascular surgical research collaborative. Click here to learn more.