Vascular and Endovascular Surgery and Vascular Medicine
The Vascular Center of Excellence is unique.
It is the only one of its type in West Virginia. And it is just one of a very few like this in the country.
The Vascular Center of Excellence (VCOE) combines the skills of vascular surgeons, interventional cardiologists, vascular medicine specialists and many others who deliver a comprehensive and true multidisciplinary approach to patients with a multitude of complex vascular problems. This structure, which offers patients the benefit of all specialists needed to take care of any vascular problem, avoids the fragmentation of care that patients must endure when these services are not available in one place and in one stop, as they are here. The VCOE became a reality due to the vision and efforts of many who believed in the concept of a truly integrated group dedicated to the care of patients with vascular disease.
The Vascular and Endovascular Surgery and Vascular Medicine section of the Department of Surgery functions out of the Vascular Center of Excellence.
Leading this group is Ali AbuRahma, MD, FACS, an internationally known vascular surgeon, whose experience in vascular surgery has produced a large number of scientific research materials, now the basis of many of the therapeutic interventions in vascular surgery used worldwide. The center is co-directed by Dr. Mark Bates, an internationally known cardiologist who is frequently involved in complex endovascular reconstructions.
Patients referred to the VCOE are studied and treated with state-of-the-art techniques and procedures, in an environment of comfort and privacy. On any day, the members of the VCOE might be treating a patient with a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm or someone with varicose veins. The physicians working in the VCOE perform angiographies, intravascular ultrasound, elective and emergency endovascular repairs, and the vascular medical specialists educate patients regarding the newest treatment and prevention opportunities. The most updated information and research on risk modification of atherosclerosis is applied during patient follow-up.
The academic credentials of this group has resulted in the approval of a vascular residency program, and because the large clinical volume seen at the VCOE, it offers the fellows in training the opportunity of gaining a great deal of expertise in all aspects of vascular medicine and surgery.
Every year, the VCOE surgeons perform an average of 2,000 major vascular and endovascular procedures. A sample includes:
- Endovascular repair of AAA: 133
- Arterial stents: 532
- Carotid stents: 49
- Carotid endarterectomies: 158
- Intravascular ultrasound: 240
Right panel: graft deployed
Led by Dr. AbuRahma, the group publishes scientific research regularly, frequently producing prospective randomized studies that provide high levels of evidence and influence strongly the guidelines that regulate the care of vascular diseases. The surgeons at the VCOE have pioneered many of the interventions currently used to treat conditions affecting the carotid artery. Over the years, they have been involved in more than ten prospective randomized national trials scrutinizing the best therapeutic options for patients with carotid disease.
Every year, Dr AbuRahma organizes a Vascular Conference, which brings together as speakers the best known vascular surgeons in the country. The conference gives surgeons in the state the opportunity to hear the latest information and research in the field, in the lovely setting of the Greenbrier Resort.
Uncommon solutions are offered at the VCOE fairly commonly. One such situation is the use of fenestrated grafts, a way to repair more than one vessel simultaneously. The technique is new, it is difficult, and it requires carefully acquired and fine-tuned expertise.
Professor of Surgery
Chief, Section of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery
Co-Director, Vascular Center of Excellence
Program Director, Vascular Surgery Residency
Associate Professor of Surgery
Vascular and Endovascular Surgery