The following abstracts are from papers presented at the 46th annual scientific meeting of the Vascular Society of Great Britain and Ireland, held in Edinburgh on 24-26 November 2011. The President of the Society, Mr Peter Lamont, was in the Chair. The BJS Prize was won by S Harrison of Centre for Cardiovascular Genetics, University College, London, and the Sol Cohen (Founder's) Prize was won by RE Clough of NIHR Comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London, London. Copyright © 2012 British Journal of Surgery Society Ltd. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]