Task force 11: Training in vascular medicine and peripheral vascular catheter‐based interventions: Endorsed by the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions and the Society for Vascular Medicine

Performance of Procedures by Nephrologists and Nephrology Fellows at U.S. Nephrology Training Programs

“…Although there is also a knowledge base that can be assessed by standardized testing, practical "hands-on" experience with these procedures is essential. Several medical subspecialty societies have published guidelines that specify a minimum number of procedures that are required for demonstration of competence or that must be performed before competence can be assessed, including cardiovascular medicine, gastroenterology, and pulmonary medicine (12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17). Guidelines for a number of nephrology procedures have been established by the American Society of Diagnostic and Interventional Nephrology (ASDIN) (18 -20), but these have not been endorsed by other nephrology organizations or broadly implemented in training programs.…”

Reorganization of vascular care in Canada

“…To further support this point of view, cardiologists likely understand applied atherothrombosis and vascular biology the best, and are familiar with the pharmaco therapeutics for primary and secondary prevention of coronary artery disease, cerebrovascular disease and PAD. Technical skills and previous experience with coronary angioplasty are transferrable to cerebrovascular or peripheral vascular interventions, as reflected by the lower number of supervised procedures required before independent performance is recommended in the practice guidelines for the cardiology specialty compared with other specialties (2,4,12). Hence, many interventional cardiologists believe they are in the best position to provide endovascular treatment for cerebrovascular disease and PAD (10,11,13,14 assessment and management, or postprocedural care, makes it difficult for interventional radiologists to be a stand-alone specialty in providing vascular care.…”

“…This may consist of several years of dedicated training in vascular medicine after graduation from medical schools, with an option for endovascular training during the last one to two years of the fellowship. Alternatively, vascular medicine could become a subspecialization of interventional cardiology, vascular surgery or interventional radiology (2).…”