The vascular surgeon is at the forefront of trauma care

Abstract

The outstanding manuscript “Intraoperative consultation of vascular surgeons is increasing at a major American trauma center” by Hemingway et al1 shows that the vascular surgeon is integral to the care of the trauma patient. The experience from Harborview Medical Center showed a many fold increase in vascular surgery intraoperative consultations from the trauma surgery service.1 The first instinct is to assume that this had resulted from increased endovascular interventions for trauma. However, their report and others have shown that these remain less common.