What is a Vascular & Endovascular Surgeon?

Vascular surgeons are those superspecialists who provide care to patients with diseases or disorders of their blood vessels except the heart or brain.   Earlier most of these diseases were treated by open surgeries; however, over the past 2 decades, many of these problems can be solved by minimally invasive techniques called endovascular interventions. So, these specialists are now called as Vascular & Endovascular Surgeons or Specialists. There are limited numbers of trained vascular & endovascular specialists in India.

What is Vascular Surgery?

Medicine is an ever-changing field. Although everyone is aware about ‘heart diseases,’ very few know about vascular diseases. In fact, vascular disease kills and cripples almost as many Indians as heart diseases or cancer. Vascular Surgery is a super speciality for diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of disorders of blood vessels of body (arteries, veins, and lymphatics)

How do I know when to visit a Vascular Surgeon

A vascular surgeon consultation & opinion would be valuable if you notice any of the following medical problems

1. Diabetic foot problems
2. Sores or Ulcers in leg that do not heal
3. Pain in legs on walking (claudication)
4. Pain in feet at rest, with or without blackish color ( gangrene)
5. If you notice varicose veins in your legs
6. Undergoing dialysis and are advised for a dialysis fistula or notice any fistula problems including blockage or bleeding
7. Children with vascular birthmarks or swelling
8. Sudden onset of swelling in legs
9. Diagnosed to have aneurysm ( ballooning of artery) anywhere in body, especially the abdomen or chest.
10. Any injury or fracture with suspected vascular injury ( damage to blood vessels)
11. Active bleeding anywhere in body ( angioembolization is the treatment method for this)

What is the difference between a Vascular Surgeon, Cardiovascular Surgeon, cardiologist & interventional radiologist?

Usually, people will get confused between different specialist doctors treating similar conditions. We hope this will clear their doubts.

A cardiovascular surgeon specializes in surgical treatment of blood vessels of the heart and commonly performs complex surgeries like heart bypass, valve repairs and replacements. Their counterpart cardiologists treat heart diseases by minimally invasive endovascular methods like angioplasty, pacemaker, etc. An interventional radiologist is a radiologist who has further specialized in imaging guided interventions for various diseases (not only vascular diseases).

A vascular surgeon on the other hand specializes in both surgical and endovascular treatment of various disorders of blood vessels of body except the heart and brain. Most well trained Vascular and endovascular specialists also provide complete and comprehensive diagnostic and medical treatment methods for a wide range of vascular diseases.

• Peripheral artery disease (leg artery blockages)
• Carotid artery disease (stroke)
• Renal artery stenosis
• Varicose veins
• Non healing leg ulcers
• Diabetic foot problems
• Aortic aneurysms
• Vascular malformations
• Dialysis fistula
• Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and other blood clots
• Vascular trauma
• Chemo ports and permcath for dialysis and cancer chemotherapy
• Lymphedema.

What is the advantage in consulting a Vascular & Endovascular Surgeon?

The most important factor to choose an experienced Vascular & Endovascular Surgeon is the ability to give a balanced option from the multiple options available to treat a particular condition.

Dr Sumit Kapadia, a gold-medalist from Baroda Medical College, obtained his general surgical training and senior residency from SSG Hospital, Baroda. He later underwent super-specialty training in vascular & endovascular surgery from Sir Ganga Ram hospital, New Delhi, which is the one of the topmost institutes in our country. His expertise and experience over the past 16 years has helped more than 30,000 patients of central and South Gujarat. Many patients from various cities and locations like Ratlam, Mansour, Nimach and other areas of Madhya Pradesh as well as neighboring states like Rajasthan and parts of Maharashtra (Nandurbar, Sahada) (Banswada, Ujjain, Udaipur) also have travelled to Vadodara to get high quality treatment at affordable rates.

Our team strives to provide dependable and reliable efforts and results in the entire spectrum of vascular diseases. With a holistic approach combining medical, non-invasive, endovascular and surgical treatments, our management of patients with vascular disorders can only get better. 

Think Vascular Think Aadicura