Vascular Surgical Manpower

What is new in Sweden? Changing pattern of general surgery

“…In the city of Maim6 the number of reconstructive procedures in arterial surgery increased from 40 per 100,000 inhabitants a year in 1971 to 150 per 100,000 in 1980. This increase paralleled the increase reported from the United States by Rutkow et al [4] during the years 1971 to 1977. The data on arterial surgery in Oslo are almost identical with those in Malm6.…”

Arterial surgery in Scandinavia

“…For this reason vascular surgeons should perform a sufficient number of operations to keep their technical skill at an acceptable level. This minimum number is difficult to establish, but 70-75 operations per year during a training period has been advocated [1][2][3][4]. An adequate training to be recognized as a "specialist" within the Scandinavian system would imply 3-4 years in a ward dealing primarily with vascular surgery following a general surgical training.…”

“…The authors do not mention another approach for the assessment of vascular surgical manpower, i.e,, the use of epidemiological figures on the morbidity of arterial occlusive diseases in different populations [2,3]. On this basis the need for vascular surgery was calculated in 1970 for West Germany with 500 vascular reconstructions per 1 million inhabitants per year [4]. However, these figures date back over a decade and are probably no longer valid, mainly for 2 reasons: first, the further increase in the number of elderly people in the European population; second, the change and progress in the diagnostic and therapeutic approach to vascular diseases.…”