Contemporary Analysis of Senior Level Case Volume Variation Between Traditional Vascular Surgery Fellows and Integrated Vascular Surgery Chief Residents

Abstract

A review was performed of Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education integrated vascular surgery, vascular surgery fellowship, and general surgery case logs for trainees graduating between 2013 and 2018. The 5+2 trainees performed a significantly greater mean volume of vascular cases compared with the 0+5 trainees by the time they had completed training. These included open repair of suprarenal aortic aneurysms (2.4 vs 1.4), thoracic aortic aneurysms (0.5 vs 0.3), endovascular repair of abdominal aortoiliac aneurysms (45 vs 28), thoracic aortic aneurysms (TEVAR; 15 vs 8), femoral-popliteal (10 vs 6) and infrapopliteal (14 vs 9) vein bypasses, carotid artery endarterectomy (47 vs 29), carotid artery stenting (10 vs 5), celiac/superior mesenteric artery endarterectomy or bypass (4 vs 2), renal artery balloon angioplasty/stenting (5 vs 3), thoracic outlet decompression (5 vs 2), arteriovenous fistulas (31 vs 16), and arteriovenous grafts (11 vs 5). The 5+2 trainees logged significantly more “senior” vascular cases than did the 0+5 trainees.