Objective:

to describe the assistant activity of the year 2016 of the services / units of Angiology and Vascular Surgery in Spain.

Patients and methods:

a cross-sectional study with a survey of 107 centers on surgical procedures and vascular examinations carried out in 2016. A descriptive analysis of results and comparison of the activity ratio/ 100,000 inhabitants with 2014 was performed.

Results:

forty-one (38.3%) departments of vascular surgery (27 training units, 71%) in Spain answered this survey. None from private medicine. Regarding to these units there were 29,046 admissions, 36.3% being urgent and 63.7% scheduled, with an average stay of 6.7 days. On the waiting list there was a predominance of venous pathology over arterial (5,783 vs. 1,187). The global surgical activity in arterial surgery in 2016 was similar to that of 2014 with variations in the ratio/ 100,000 inhabitants according to the arterial sector: 9.39 vs. 9.35 in supraaortic trunks; 23.5 vs. 21.9 in the femoropopliteal arteries and 10.3 vs. 9.8 in the distal sector. There was a significant increase in the activity rate in thoracic aorta (1.9 vs. 1.1), thoracoabdominal aorta (0.49 vs. 0.38) and visceral arteries (1.8 vs. 1.3). There was also a moderate increase in activity in abdominal aortic aneurysms (10.8 vs. 9.5) and in obstructive pathology of the aorto-iliac sector (13.1 vs. 11.1). Practically in all of them the ratio of conventional surgery procedures was lower, while that of endovascular surgery increased in some. In 2016, a significant increase was found in the number of hemodialysis accesses (25.3 vs. 20.6). The activity in major and minor amputations was similar (7.5 vs. 7.3 and 11.6 vs. 10.7). There was no significant difference in the overall activity on the venous sector in 2016 compared to 2014 (66.6 vs. 65.4), although there was a moderate increase in endovascular surgery procedures for varicose veins. There was also a moderate increase in the ratio/ 100,000 inhabitants of vascular examinations (850.6 vs. 760.5).

Conclusions:

a slight increase in global arterial surgical activity was found, with an increase in procedures in some territories. Global venous activity has been maintained, with a large increase in endovascular procedures for the treatment of varicose veins. An increase in vascular examinations was also found. In relation to 2014, participation decreased considerably, which determines the bias in the interpretation of the results.

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