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RACS ASC 2025
Australian and New Zealand Education and Training in Carotid Surgery: An 11-year retrospective
Poster
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Poster

Disciplines

Vascular Surgery

Presentation Description

Institution: Alfred Health - Victoria, Australia

Purpose Management of carotid artery disease aims to reduce risk of embolic stroke, and includes non-operative, procedural, and surgical pathways. The number of patients treated non-operatively is increasing. Vascular Surgery training requires demonstration of carotid intervention competency. There has been recent concern that, similar to other areas in Vascular Surgery, training opportunities in carotid endarterectomy (CEA) and carotid artery stenting (CAS) are decreasing. We aim to assess the trend, if any, of trainee exposure to carotid artery intervention. Methodology 11 years of carotid interventional data from January 2013 to December 2023 were extracted from the Australasian Vascular Audit (AVA) across all training centres. Outcome measures included trainee role (surgeon versus assistant) and mortality. Chi-squared, logistical regression, and linear regression analyses were performed. Results 13335 interventions were performed over the study period. 12608 (94%) were CEA. The number of CEA performed every year trended downwards, approaching significance with 12% fewer CEA performed at the end of the study period (β = -10.73, p = 0.06). Trainee involvement remained constant for both CEA and CAS, with no significant trend in number identified. Number of interventions with two consultant operators increased significantly. Primary operator was correlated to hospital, procedure urgency, and ASA in multivariate analysis. Conclusion Despite the decrease in carotid surgery volume, available training opportunities have remained stable. The identified increase in interventions with two consultant operators may reflect decreased confidence in both trainees and surgeons with decreasing numbers of carotid intervention over time.
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Authors
Authors

Dr Aaron Tran - , Dr Benjamin Birch - , Mr Thodur Vasudevan - , Mr Vikram Iyer -