CRITERIA FOR THE CLASSIFICATION AND DIAGNOSIS OF PERIPHERAL VASCULAR DISEASES

The study of peripheral vascular diseases has made rapid strides in the past decade, and has now reached the stage at which it can benefit from a clear, concise and descriptive classification. The need for such a classification becomes obvious when an attempt is made to cull the literature or to abstract hospital records. Increasing interest in peripheral vascular diseases has led to rapid accumulation of new knowledge, and the multiplicity of investigative reports has sharpened the need for some degree of uniformity in clinical designation. Repeatedly, methods of treatment reported to have yielded excellent results are subsequently found to be of no value in other hands. The reason too often is that widely differing stages of a disease process are grouped together as an entity, and cases included in one classification in one clinic are called instances of something else in another clinic. The simplest and most practical method