The success of the heart team for complex coronary artery and structural heart disease may serve as a model for the efficient and effective management of patients with peripheral vascular disease, according to a perspective from ACC's Peripheral Vascular Disease Council published May 13 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Dhaval Kolte, MD, PhD, et al., propose a multidisciplinary vascular team approach for the treatment of critical limb ischemia, pulmonary embolism, acute ischemic stroke and acute aortic syndromes. They explain that the complex nature of peripheral vascular disease, presence of multiple comorbidities and existence of a wide variety of therapeutic options suggests that a multidisciplinary approach to treatment has the potential to improve the care of these patients.

The authors note that while the establishment and maintenance of effective multidisciplinary teams require time, commitment and dedication among all team members as well as the successful implementation of vascular teams have the potential to significantly enhance quality of care, improve clinical outcomes and reduce costs. In addition, they note that developing a successful vascular team requires buy-in from all clinical stakeholders, hospital administrators, and treating and referring providers.

Moving forward, the authors conclude that prospective evaluations of the vascular team model as applied to other areas of cardiovascular disease are warranted and should inform integration of this approach into routine clinical care.

"Multidisciplinary teams for patients with vascular diseases are particularly important in this time of rapidly advancing technology and evolving clinical practice guidelines," comments Gregory Piazza, MD, FACC, chair of ACC's Peripheral Vascular Disease Council. "This perspective highlights the potential benefits of a vascular team approach, while also providing a scaffolding for implementation."

Members of ACC's Peripheral Vascular Disease Section are invited to share their thoughts and continue the discussion on ACC's Member Hub!

Keywords: Stroke, Coronary Vessels, Brain Ischemia, Peripheral Vascular Diseases, Cardiovascular Diseases, Heart Diseases, Comorbidity, Hospital Administrators, Pulmonary Embolism, Patient Care Team

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