Advanced Vascular Care at UCLA: A Leader in Innovation and Excellence
The UCLA Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery stands as a national frontrunner in advanced vascular care, surgical innovation, and academic excellence. Under the leadership of division chief Dr. Vincent L. Rowe, the division integrates cutting-edge clinical practice with a robust research enterprise and comprehensive surgical training programs, all within a top-ranked academic medical center.
Clinical Expertise: High-Volume, High-Complexity Care
UCLA Health vascular and endovascular surgeons offer specialized treatment for conditions affecting any artery or vein outside your heart. As a high-volume center, they see more than 100 patients a day. The faculty delivers high-volume, high-complexity care across the UCLA Health system, including tertiary referrals from across California and beyond, offering advanced treatments for a wide range of conditions:
- Aortic aneurysms (thoracic, abdominal, and thoracoabdominal)
- Carotid artery disease and stroke prevention
- Dialysis access and complex reinterventions.
- Peripheral artery disease and limb preservation
- Venous disease and thromboembolic disorders
- Thoracic outlet syndrome and vascular trauma
Why Choose UCLA Health for Vascular and Endovascular Surgery
Patients receive all the diagnostic, imaging and treatment services they need in one convenient location. Highlights of the program include:
- Advanced treatment with minimal downtime: UCLA Health employs noninvasive or minimally invasive techniques for nearly all treatments. This often involves using only local anesthesia, allowing patients to return home the same day. Many techniques use incisions so small they don’t require stitches.
- Specialized experts: Vascular surgeons specialize in specific diagnoses and techniques. This subspecialization ensures treatment from a physician who is an expert in the patient’s specific condition. The technologists who perform diagnostic imaging also have specialized training in blood vessel studies, helping ensure accurate diagnoses.
- Team-based services: UCLA Health vascular surgeons work with multiple experts throughout their network to ensure targeted and effective treatment. In the Wound Care Center, they collaborate with multiple specialists, including podiatrists, plastic surgeons, and physicians who are expert in wound care.
- Research-driven care: Physicians participate in and lead a broad range of clinical trials. This research involvement means patients receive the most up-to-date therapies, including enrollment in a clinical trial, when appropriate. UCLA Health physicians have also been involved in establishing new and groundbreaking treatments, many of which are now used nationwide.
- Exceptional outcomes: The Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery is part of the Vascular Quality Initiative, a national database used to track outcomes against local, regional and national standards. UCLA Health consistently meets and exceeds these standards.
- Treatment for rare diseases: UCLA Health doctors formed the Vascular Low-Frequency Disease Consortium to collaborate with other vascular surgeons across the nation and the world. They bring their collective data and expertise together to learn more about the most effective therapies for rare vascular diseases, ensuring patients with these conditions receive up-to-date, advanced care.
Faculty Leadership: Nationally and Internationally Recognized Experts
The surgeons at UCLA Health are nationally and internationally recognized for their contributions to vascular surgery. The team includes:
- Editorial leaders for major textbooks and journals
- Principal investigators on NIH- and VA-funded research
- Members of national clinical guideline committees
- Active mentors for surgical residents, fellows, and medical students
Education and Training: Shaping Future Leaders
UCLA Health's training programs prepare future leaders in vascular surgery through immersive clinical experience and academic development:
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- Integrated Vascular Surgery Residency: A five-year program with strong operative exposure and built-in research time.
- Fellowship in Vascular Surgery: Focused on advanced open and endovascular procedures.
- Continuing Medical Education (CME): Home of the nationally recognized “What’s New in Vascular and Endovascular Surgery” course.
Research and Innovation: A Core Mission
Research is a core pillar of the division’s mission, driving advancements in vascular care.
Specialized Services: Areas of Care
The Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery offers multiple specialized services:
- Outpatient Evaluation Clinic: This clinic facilitates consultations with new patients, diagnoses conditions, and offers follow-up care. Patients have an appointment in the vascular laboratory the same day as their consultation, ensuring efficient diagnoses and reducing the need for multiple visits.
- Diagnostic Vascular Laboratory: Located in the same building as the evaluation clinic, this laboratory offers comprehensive blood vessel studies to evaluate arteries and veins. Specialized technologists perform these noninvasive tests to diagnose blood vessel problems quickly and accurately.
- Ambulatory Procedure Unit: A wide range of outpatient procedures are performed in this unit, all under local anesthesia, allowing patients to return home the same day with minimal downtime. Specialists offer a broad range of catheter-based treatments, including angiograms, ablations, and stent placements.
- Vascular Center: The Gonda (Goldschmied) Vascular Center provides comprehensive care for venous insufficiency, a condition that affects blood flow between the legs and heart. An array of minimally invasive and noninvasive treatments are available to improve blood flow, with the majority of procedures done on an outpatient basis.
- Wound Care Center: This center collaborates with multiple specialists to treat patients with nonhealing wounds. Patients may receive care from a vascular surgeon, podiatrist, plastic surgeon, or wound care physician, ensuring the right treatment from an expert.
- Hyperbaric Center: Hyperbaric therapy is offered for complex vascular problems that haven’t been resolved with other treatments. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy involves breathing in 100% oxygen in a special pressurized chamber, accelerating healing by increasing oxygen in the bloodstream. It may be an appropriate treatment for people with severe nonhealing wounds, such as foot ulcers in people with diabetes.
- Aortic Center: The UCLA Health Aortic Center is world-renowned for the diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment of all types of aortic disease. The care team includes specialists in vascular surgery, cardiac surgery, anesthesiology, cardiology, and radiology, allowing for a comprehensive diagnosis and treatment plan.
Vascular and Endovascular Conditions Treated
Vascular and endovascular surgeons treat a wide range of conditions, offering noninvasive, minimally invasive, and open surgical treatments for blood vessel problems outside of the heart. The most common conditions treated include:
- Aneurysms: A weak spot in an artery that can turn into a bulge or balloon outward. If an aneurysm ruptures, it can cause severe artery damage and life-threatening bleeding.
- Blocked arteries: Restricted blood flow through the arteries, often due to plaque buildup and artery narrowing (atherosclerosis).
- Carotid artery disease: A condition that occurs when plaque builds up in the carotid arteries, the blood vessels in the neck that carry blood to the brain.
- Peripheral artery disease (PAD): A condition that occurs when plaque forms, causing artery narrowing in the vessels that carry blood to the legs.
- Thoracic outlet syndrome: A group of disorders characterized by compressed nerves or blood vessels in the thoracic outlet, the space between the first rib and collarbone (clavicle).
- Vascular malformations: Irregularities in the blood vessels that are usually present at birth (congenital), including:
- Arteriovenous fistulas: Atypical connections between arteries and veins.
- Arteriovenous malformations (AVMs): An irregular connection between arteries and veins occurring in the brain.
- Venous malformations: Irregular widening or tangling of the veins.
- Venous insufficiency: A condition that occurs when the valves of the leg vein don’t work properly.
Treatments Offered: A Range of Innovative Procedures
Many treatment techniques are noninvasive or minimally invasive, utilizing endovascular techniques that involve delivering treatment through small, hollow tubes (catheters) inserted through blood vessels. Surgeons offer a wide range of procedures to treat vascular problems, including:
- Ablation: Used to treat venous insufficiency, the surgeon places a catheter through a blood vessel and guides it to the affected vein, then sends heat or radiofrequency energy to close off the vein. Blood reroutes around the closed vein.
- Atherectomy: This procedure removes plaque buildup to restore blood flow through a blocked artery. A catheter with a rotating blade removes excess plaque and may be used to treat peripheral artery disease.
- Balloon and stenting (angioplasty): This treatment restores blood flow through blocked arteries and is often an option for carotid artery disease or peripheral artery disease. The surgeon sends a catheter with a small, deflated balloon to the blocked artery. When the catheter is in position, the surgeon inflates the balloon to push plaque away and clear a path for blood to flow. They may also place a hollow metal tube called a stent to help keep the artery open.
- Embolization: Embolization is another technique for closing off veins. The surgeon inserts a catheter through a blood vessel and guides it to the affected vein. They inject a special glue or foam through the catheter to close the vein. This may be used to treat venous insufficiency or a vascular malformation.
- Hemodialysis or chemo port access: Some surgeons specialize in techniques for vascular access, including placing chemotherapy ports - small, flexible tubes placed in a vein to allow chemotherapy medications to be delivered without a needle prick. They also specialize in hemodialysis access, which treats kidney failure by removing excess toxins, fluids and waste products from the blood. Hemodialysis access may involve connecting an artery and vein in your arm or placing a catheter in a large vein to allow blood to flow through a hemodialysis machine.
- Phlebectomy: A vascular surgeon may use a phlebectomy to treat varicose veins, the bulging veins that may develop along with venous insufficiency. The surgeon makes a tiny incision in the skin and uses a hook-like tool to remove the varicose vein. These incisions are so small, they often don’t require a stitch.
- Sclerotherapy: Sclerotherapy may be used to treat venous insufficiency, varicose veins or vascular malformations. The surgeon inserts a catheter through a blood vessel and guides it to the affected vein. They send a special solution directly into the vein, which causes the vein to close and eventually collapse. The collapsed vein is reabsorbed by the body and blood reroutes through other nearby blood vessels.
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