The December 2021 issue is online. We would like to use this newsletter for the most breaking EJVES news: the next Senior Editor (in office by October 2022) has been elected! It is the current Aortic Section Editor, Mr. Jonathan Boyle from Cambridge. He got elected on December 7th by the Editorial Board in a very close and competitive race. The whole editorial staff congratulates Jon for this great achievement and looks forward to working with him in his new role.
The opening Editorial of the issue, by Boyd, is a new edition of our Global Tour D’Horizon Series and describes the current Challenges for Vascular Surgery in the Great White North in Canada (read for free).
It is followed by two important and very interesting Position Statements regarding the Development of the Recent UK NICE AAA Guidance; one by the ESVS (read for free) and one by the Vascular Society of Great Britain and Ireland (read for free). Triggered by Mastracci et al.’s prominent request for retraction (read for free) of the Position statement of the Guidelines Development Committee, and an Editorial response to this request (read for free), these contributions clarify the European and UK perspectives. Certainly exciting to read!
The first two Editor’s choice papers are also EJVES Open Access: D’Oria et al. report the Effects of Chronic Kidney disease on Mid Term Outcomes After Complex EVAR, and confirm that pre-operative renal impairment is associated with reduced survival (read for free).
Gavali et al. compared Extra-Anatomical with In Situ Reconstruction for Abdominal Aortic Graft or Endograft Infections – and did not find any difference regarding survival or re-infection rates! (read for free)
The last Editor’s choice paper, by Golledge et al., describes the Relationship Between Abdominal Aortic Diameter and Major Adverse Events in Vascular Patients. It seems that size does matter, after all (read for free).
The December issue features four additional EJVES Open Access papers:
The first EJVES Open Access paper, by Adam et al., validates Fully Automated Measurements of Pre- and Postsurgical Aortic Aneurysm Diameters Using Artificial Intelligence. Measurements were in the same range as those of human experts, offering a potential alternative for monitoring of patients (read for free).
Comes with an invited commentary by T.G. Giannakopoulos et al.
The second EJVES Open Access paper, by Wermelink et al., provides a Systematic Review of Various Tissue Perfusion Techniques in PAOD Patients. Their analysis questions the reliability of such approaches (read for free).
The third EJVES Open Access paper, by Langenskiöld et al., investigated Deep Femoral Vein Reconstruction For Abdominal Aortic Graft Infections. They demonstrate good chances to get off antibiotics, but also long operating times and ICU stays (read for free).
The last EJVES Open Access paper, by Ljungquist et al., describes Guided Aspiration for Aortic Vascular Graft and Endograft Infections. The diagnostic yield seems high, particularly when combined with PCR techniques (read for free).
Comes with an invited commentary by M. Puges et al.
In 2021, 414 expert peer reviewers have performed a stunning 2683 reviews for the Journal. This was crucial support to help us select the best contributions – for all our benefit. We would like to thank them all (read for free) and hope for their continued support in 2022.
Please stay safe and healthy in these extraordinary times. We wish you a relaxing holiday season, Merry Christmas and a sparkling end of the Year! We hope you will enjoy the December issue as an interesting read in between. It is certainly worth it!
Florian Dick Martin Björck
Editor-in-Chief Senior Editor
If you are a subscriber to the EJVES and have stored your access credentials to your computer or mobile device, you can access the whole issue here or individual papers via the links below. If you normally access the journal via the journal link in the ESVS members’ area, please go to the ESVS site via this link. All ESVS members can assess the monthly issues from October and onwards by streaming the issue as a “Flipbook”. If you are an ESVS member, please try this exciting new reading experience, in which you can easily navigate from the table of contents directly to the articles and vice versa.
(If you are a subscriber but have no electronic access installed, you can find help here to set your computer or mobile device up.)
Further ISSUE HIGHLIGHTS of the December 2021 issue include:
«Safety and Validity of the Proposed European Society for Vascular Surgery Infrarenal Endovascular Aneurysm Repair Surveillance Protocol: A Single Centre Evaluation» by Kirkham et al. (link)
->External validation of the ESVS EVAR surveillance protocol to confirm reliable identification of low risk candidates (posthoc application to 309 patients)
Comes with an invited commentary by F. Bastos Gonçalves
AORTA AND MAJOR BRANCHES
«How Does Female Sex Affect Complex Endovascular Aortic Repair? A Single Centre Cohort Study» by Behrendt et al. (link)
-> Complex EVAR of pararenal AAA associated with increased mortality and complication risk in women, but EVAR of TAAA with similar outcomes (445 patients observed)
Comes with an invited commentary by R. Hultgren et al.
«Pre-Loaded Fenestrated Thoracic Endografts for Distal Aortic Arch Pathologies: Multicentre Retrospective Analysis of Short and Mid Term Outcomes» by Tsilimparis et al. (link)
-> Endovascular treatment of distal aortic arch feasible and promising, but complications may be severe (108 patients followed)
BASIC RESEARCH AND TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE
«Mechanical Behaviour of Fenestrations in Current Aortic Endografts» by Jayet et al. (link)
-> Extraction force depends on interaction between fenestration and bridging stentgraft – dedicated combinations wanted to improve seal and stability
«Deleterious Effects of Remote Ischaemic Per-conditioning During Lower Limb Ischaemia Reperfusion in Mice» by Guillot et al. (link)
-> Ischaemic per-conditioning (i.e. during revascularisation) is an elegant concept, but does not seem to work – at least not in this animal model
MISCELLANEOUS
«Molecular Imaging of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms with Positron Emission Tomography: A Systematic Review» by Baolei et al. (link)
-> Predictive value of FDG-PET regarding AAA expansion unclear; new tracers appear more promising (systematic review of 11 studies)
«Initiation of SGLT2 Inhibitors and the Risk of Lower Extremity Minor and Major Amputation in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes and Peripheral Arterial Disease: A Health Claims Data Analysis» by Rodionov et al. (link)
-> Prescription of SGLT2 inhibitors associated with less heart failure episodes in diabetics with PAD, but with excess amputation risk in diabetics without PAD (100 000 patients analysed)
Comes with an invited commentary by A. Gottsäter et al.
«International Implementation of a PROficiency based StePwise Endovascular Curricular Training (PROSPECT) in Daily Practice» by Soenens et al. (link)
-> Despite known benefits for trainees PROSPECT still difficult to integrate into daily practice – should be mandatory for surgical training!
Comes with an invited commentary by F.M. Kerray et al.
