The division of vascular surgery of the UEMS

The “vascular surgery” (VS) specialty in Europe, as elsewhere, was created as a side branch of General Surgery. At the time, only a few reconstructive procedures were possible and extensively applied, but many “firsts” were performed in Europe, from carotid endarterectomy to graft repair of an abdominal aortic aneurysm. Some of our old Masters were proud to practice vascular procedures so effectively for bowel, kidney or thoracic surgery. Technology with its progressive achievements in materials, instruments and methodologies, as well as medical applications of several principles of physics and clinical use of biological discoveries and pharmacological research with the introduction of new drugs, led to rapid and incredible developments in VS. Hence, in the late 1960s in the universities it began to be recognized as a well-defined discipline and a specific specialty. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]