The January 2022 issue is online and welcomes you to a hopefully exciting New Year with the EJVES! The opening Editorial (read here) provides you with a Look Ahead into this year’s activities, and presents changes within the editorial staff. Marianne De Maeseneer and Eric Verhoeven have stepped down as Associate Editors, and the whole editorial group would like to thank them for their enormous contributions over many years and to wish them all the best! At the same time, we welcome Carlota Prendes in our team (who was elected first EJVES Assistant Editor in a very tight race end of December) as well as all new members of our rejuvenated Editorial Board.
In this issue, all Editor’s choice papers are also EJVES Open Access: the first Editor’s choice paper by Coelho et al. provides a systematic review of the optimal Timing of Carotid Intervention for Symptomatic Carotid Stenosis. The authors confirmed that, while expedited CEA was associated with better outcomes than expedited CAS, optimal timing of CAS within 14 days of symptoms was not yet established (read for free).
The second Editor’s choice paper, by Katsanos et al., reports a systematic RCT review of the Risk of Major Amputation Following Application of Paclitaxel Coated Balloons in the Lower Limb Arteries. It seems the debate is not over yet: use of paclitaxel coated balloons is associated with increased long term amputation risk – at least in randomised patients (read for free).
The last Editor’s choice paper, by Jongkind et al., gives a long awaited Update of the ESVS 2020 Clinical Practice Guidelines for ALI Management in the COVID era (read for free), and comes with an excellent commentary by Pena et al.
The January 2022 issue features three additional EJVES Open Access papers:
The first EJVES Open Access paper, by Hammar et al., confirms the Low Incidence of Late Ipsilateral Ischaemic Stroke After Treatment for Symptomatic Carotid Stenosis in Sweden 2008 – 2017 but highlight that those > 80 years old and those receiving CAS are at a 2 – 3 fold risk (read for free).
The second EJVES Open Access paper, by Søgaard et al. used a Nationwide cohort study to quantify Geographical Variation in the Management of Peripheral Arterial Occlusive Disease in Denmark. Unsurprisingly, clinical decision making and (cost-)efficiency vary relevantly between centres even if they are part of the same healthcare system (read for free).
The third EJVES Open Access paper, by Schropp et al., is a Research Letter and assesses the use of Intravascular Ultrasound in the Management of Venous Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. (read for free).
We hope you have started safe and healthy into 2022 – a year that could mark the expected transition from pandemic to endemic, and allow more direct interactions and academic exchange. A promising look ahead towards an exciting new normal,
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.
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Further ISSUE HIGHLIGHTS of the January 2022 issue include:
«No Benefit of Wearing Compression Stockings after Endovenous Thermal Ablation of Varicose Veins: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis» by Hu et al. (link)
->Except for mild pain relief no tangible benefit of cempression therapy – a paradigm shift in the management of varicose veins? (7 RCTs including 1 146 patients analysed)
«Clinical Studies Reporting on Vascular Graft Coatings for the Prevention of Aortic Graft Infection: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis» by Mufty et al. (link)
-> Sobering findings: no evidence of relevant protection against vascular aortic graft infection, neither for silver nor for antibiotic coatings; but evidence very limited (systematic review of 8 studies)
CAROTID AND SUPRA-AORTIC ARTERIES
«No Evidence for Long Term Blood Pressure Differences Between Eversion and Conventional Carotid Endarterectomy in Two Independent Study Cohorts» by Nolde et al. (link)
-> No obvious difference in long term blood pressure development – at least in these two heterogeneous study cohorts (730 patients followed)
AORTA AND MAJOR BRANCHES
«Midterm Outcomes of an Adjustable Puncture Device for In Situ Fenestration During Thoracic Endovascular Aortic Repair» by Shu et al. (link)
-> High technical success rate and promising midterm outcomes but large preplanned observations with complete follow-up information needed for further appraisal (51 patients included)
«Endovascular Repair of Complicated Type B Aortic Intramural Haematoma: A Single Centre Long Term Experience» by Tolboom et al. (link)
-> Double-edged sword: if successfully placed, TEVAR associated with good long term outcomes, but perioperative complications and need for reinterventions remain relevant (39 patients observed)
Comes with an invited commentary by G. Zuccon et al.
PERIPHERAL ARTERIES
«A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis on the Impact of High On-Treatment Platelet Reactivity on Clinical Outcomes for Patients Taking ADP Receptor Inhibitors Following Lower Limb Arterial Endovascular Intervention» by Zlatanovic et al. (link)
-> High on-treatment platelet reactivity (eg. ʹclopidogrel resistanceʹ) seems relevant clinically: risk of MALE and possibly even all cause mortality was increased but strength of evidence is very low (10 studies including 1 400 patients summarised)
Comes with an invited commentary by H.N. Pärsson
BASIC RESEARCH AND TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE
«Pre-clinical In Vitro Models of Vascular Graft Coating in the Prevention of Vascular Graft Infection: A Systematic Review» by Mufty et al. (link)
->Polyester still the preferred material but coating not limited to antibiotics anymore but increasingly also used to block biofilm development – exciting times ahead? (45 studies summarised, although most deemed unreliable)
MISCELLANEOUS
«The Development of Lower Limb Amputations in Finland from 1997 to 2018: A Nationwide Retrospective Registry Study» by Ponkilainen et al. (link)
-> Increasing lower limb revascularisations over time associated with a shift towards minor amputations – probably reflecting improved care of diabetic and ischaemic feet in Finland (75 000 patients analysed)
«National Rates of Lower Extremity Amputation in People With and Without Diabetes in a Multi-Ethnic Asian Population: a Ten Year Study in Singapore » by Riandini et al. (link)
-> Overall proportion of amputations attributable to diabetes increasing over time – alarming finding that needs scrutiny (National registry including 3.6 million inhabitants)
Comes with an invited commentary by C.A. Behrendt et al.
