The Substantial Burden of Iatrogenic Vascular Injury on the Vascular Surgery Workforce at an Academic Medical Center

Abstract

Vascular surgeons are often called upon to provide emergent surgical assistance to other specialties for iatrogenic complications, both intraoperatively and in the inpatient setting. The management of iatrogenic vascular injury remains a critical role of the vascular surgeon, especially in the context of the increasing adoption of percutaneous procedures by other specialties. This study aims to characterize consultation timing, management, and outcomes for iatrogenic vascular injuries. This study identified patients for whom vascular surgery was consulted for iatrogenic vascular complications from February 1, 2022 to May 12, 2023. Patient information, including demographic information, injury details, and details of any operative intervention, were retrospectively collected from February 1, 2022 to October 13, 2022 and prospectively collected for the remainder of the study period. Analyses were performed with R version 2022.02.03. There were 87 patients with consultations related to iatrogenic vascular injury. Of these, 42 (46%) were female and the mean age was 59 years (± 18 years). The most common consulting services were cardiology (32%), cardiothoracic surgery (26%), general surgery (8%) and neuro-interventional radiology (10%). Reasons for consultation included hemorrhage (36%), limb ischemia (36%), and treatment of pseudoaneurysm (23%). 24% of consults were intraoperative, 20% of consults related to ECMO cannulation, and 16% of consults related to ventricular assist devices including LVAD and IABP. The majority of these consult requests occurred during evening and night hours (5 pm - 7 am) (60%) (Figure 1). Emergent intervention was required in 62% of cases and consisted of: primary open surgical repair of arterial injury (54%), endovascular intervention (21%), and open thromboembolectomy (15%). Overall, in-hospital mortality for the patient cohort was 20% and the reintervention rate was 23%, reflecting the underlying complexity of the illness and nature of the vascular injury in this patient group. Vascular surgeons play an essential role in managing emergent life-threatening hemorrhagic and ischemic iatrogenic vascular complications in the hospitalized setting. The complications require immediate bedside or intraoperative consult and often emergent open surgical or endovascular intervention. Furthermore, many of these require urgent management in the evening or overnight hours, and therefore the high frequency of these events represents a potential significant resource utilization and workforce issue to the vascular surgery workforce.