[The need for vascular surgery in Scandinavia]

In 1987 400 vascular reconstructions per mill inhabitants were performed in Denmark. This is lower than in Sweden and Norway, where the activity is approximately twice as high. The number of vascular operations in USA in 1985 was approximately 2,400 per mill inhabitants. The need for vascular surgery in the European countries has been calculated to be between 1,300-1,500 operations per mill inhabitants. These numbers could be significantly influenced by the result of trials regarding the treatment of cerebrovascular insufficiency, and on the development of catheter-based methods for the treatment of atherosclerosis. Vascular surgery became a surgical specialty in Denmark in 1982. The same tendency is seen in many other European countries. However, patients with vascular diseases are a heterogeneous group, taken care of by doctors representing several medical disciplines. Hitherto, it has been difficult to get resources for angiology and vascular surgery. It is therefore a challenge to convince the health authorities that vascular surgery needs resources to take care of various vascular diseases that occur in the steadily growing elderly population. Units for vascular surgery, including a laboratory, should be established in our major hospitals. It is expected that the activity within vascular surgery will increase significantly in Denmark during the 1990s.