Registro de actividades de la Sociedad Española de Angiología Cirugía Vascular, año 2008

Objective. To describe the health care activities carried out by Angiology and Vascular Surgery Services/ Units in Spain during 2008. Patients and methods. Cross-sectional study. The surgical and endovascular procedures carried out in 2008 were recorded in the 80 hospitals (78 Angiology and Vascular Surgery Services/Units) that voluntarily agreed to participate in the register. The data collection tool was a specific questionnaire, the Vascular Register (RV), used by the Spanish Society of Angiology and Vascular Surgery (SEACV, in Spanish) in recent years (2000-2008). A descriptive analysis was made, and centres with teaching accreditation were compared with non-teaching centres as regards volume of activity. Results. The VR was completed by 78 Services/Units, 34 of which have teaching accreditation. There were a total of 51,177 hospital admissions, of which 18,161 (35.5%) were for emergencies and 33,016 (64.5%) were for programmed admissions, with an overall mean stay of 7.8 days. As of 31/12/2007, most of the patients on the waiting list had venous diseases (n=10,514) while a smaller number had arterial disease (1, 835). Direct arterial surgical activity consisted of 2,168 interventions in the supra-aortic trunk, 924 in upper limbs, 138 in the thoracic/thoraco-abdominal aorta, 3,491 in the anatomic aorto-iliac segment (of which 1,229 were for elective abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) and 466 for emergency AAA), and 1,281 interventions involving an extra-anatomic route, 137 in digestive tract arteries, 54 in renal arteries, 2,656 in the femoral-popliteal segment and 1,354 in the femoral-distal segment of the lower limbs. The most frequently performed intervention in venous surgery was for varicose veins, with 22,868 procedures. Of the endovascular procedures, 774 involved the supra-aortic trunk, 465 the upper limbs, 1,226 were for aortic aneurysms (162 thoracic and 1.064 abdominal), and 4,925 for lower limb arteries. A total of 333 venous endovascular procedures were performed, including pelvic vein embolization and venous fibrinolysis. In all, 259,753 examinations were carried out in the Vascular Laboratory. The volume of activity, including both surgical and endovascular interventions and non invasive vascular laboratory examinations, was significantly higher in teaching centres than in non-teaching centres. The waiting list for arterial and venous surgery has been increased in both, teaching and non teaching centres. Conclusions. The participation of centres has continued, although it remains insufficient. According to the data obtained, arterial and venous surgical activity and endovascular activity have increased compared to 2006, and teaching centres have a larger volume of activity than non-teaching centres. The waiting list for both, venous and arterial surgery, has increased. [ANGIOLOGIA 2009; 61: 325-48]