Most of us are unaware of the fact that vascular surgery can help save life in case of cerebral stroke due to less blood supply to brain or from amputation of legs due to gangrene by timely `bypass' of arteries similar to heart bypass.

For example Transcient Ischaemic attack or lesser blood supply to brain which leads to strokes can be surgically corrected by a simple operation viz carotid endarterectomy.Transcient Ischaemic attack involves momentary loss of visionin one eye , weakness on one side of the body or face etc which are symptoms of impending stroke.The operation here involves removing the narrowing in the artery whereby restoring the blood supply to the brain.

Like wise in Intermittent Claudication or lesser blood supply to leg due to narrowing of the arteries ,mostly in diabetic patients, bypass operation similar to that of heart bypass can be performed to prevent amputation of leg.In cases of Intermittent Claudication patient starts getting pain on walking certain distance in calf , thigh or buttocks which disapperas on taking rest.

Even many among the medical fratenity in India are not aware of this speciality.Lack of this awareness prevents or delays the patients from seeking appropriate care from a qualified vascular surgeon.

Dr Pankaj Patel, Consultant Vascular Surgeon of Lilavati Hospital and Sir Hurkisandas Nurrotmdas Hospital and one of the very few vascular surgeons to set up his own clinic in Mumbai says that the first time came to know about vascular surgery was when he went UK for specialisation in laparascopic surgery.Till that he did not even know about the existence of a vascular surgeon.

There he came to know of a few operations like Caroid Artery Surgery which he had never heard before and soon took a keen interest to know more about vascular surgery and soon went for specialisation in this field.

"I realised how many people I could save from getting strokes and from leg amputations if vascular surgery is done on time.In india majority of patients undergo amputation mainly due to lack of awareness of a specialist vascular surgeon" says Dr Patel.

In 1997 he came back to India with an idea of setting up a vascular surgery clinic.But he found it almost impossible because most people including his his colleagues had never heard about this speciality.

It took quite some time for him to get attached in big hospitals.In the meantime he started educating more doctors about this speciality. Because of his specialisation,he could save many cases where amputation could have taken place.

Vascular surgery is a well established as an independent specialty in advanced countries. This specialized field has evolved nearly over a century and has made rapid progress in last three to four decades. It is totally different from cardiovascular surgery which involves mainly heart and its great vessels.

Vascular surgeon deals with disease of all the blood vessels of the body - i.e., arteries and veins, except those in the heart which are dealt by the cardiac surgeon and those in the brain dealt by neurosurgeons. In India it is only slowly gaining recognition as a separate speciality. The term `cardio vascular surgery' is still commonly used, though the training and education, approach to the disease, diagnosis and therapy of vascular diseases is very different from approach to a patient with heart disease.

Hence these two distinct specialities should be recognized separately.Because of the rapid increase in diabetic population in India, peripheral vascular diseases are also on the rise.Patients may suffer from blocked arteries to the leg which might result in leg amputation or may result in a stroke from a blocked artery in the neck along with threat to limb and life.Hence there is increasing need for vascular surgeons.

There are about 20 million diabetics in India which is the highest in the world.Of this about 1.5 million suffer from reduced blood supply due to blocked arteries.Up till now amputations were performed to treat these conditions.Intervention of vascular surgeons can greatly reduce incidence of amputation.

Smoking is another major cause of vascular diseases.If `smokers' are included, the number of people having blocked arteries to the leg requiring by pass might be twice this number.A significant number of these patients are under 50 years of age and could be the sole "bread winners" for their families.

Though mostly vascular surgeon does surgery to prevent stroke and limb loss, he also deals with blood vessel blockages in other parts of the body.Most of these can have catastrophic outcomes unless diagnosed and treated early.The economic loss of this is much more than that from heart diseases.Since this can be an enormous health and socio-economic problem, it is essential to create awareness about vascular disease both among public and medical practitioners that most of these diseases are eminently treatable.

Vascular Society of India (VSI) a registered organisation is formed with this objective.VSI has been in existence for five years.It has about 150 members from all over India drawn from several specialties, especially from vascular surgery and they deal extensively with vascular diseases. VSI plans a multi-pronged approach to achieve the goal of creating this awareness through public information booklets and brochures, producing quality videos to be aired through television channels and also through print media by publishing articles periodically.

VSI is also committed to promote vascular research and education which is very much lacking in India and also assist in patient care.In fact there are no training centres in India which offer post graducate course in Vascular Surgery except one in Chennai.

VSI has succeeded in getting National Board (in Medicine) to recognize Vascular Surgery as an independent specialty and start two year `Fellowship' programmes in a few select centres from next academic year. VSI is also offering financial and academic support to these fellowship programmes.Since many of these cannot be financed only by health related industries, VSI is planning to seek financial support from private organizations, trusts and leading industrial houses from all over India.VSI has been successful in obtaining tax-exemption for funds contributed for these projects.

For more details on vascular surgery contact Dr Pankaj Patel, Ameya ClinicPandurang Naik Road, Mahim, Mumbai 400016. Phone:4453235