The Vascular Laboratory in the 1990s What's in and what's out

The vascular laboratory as a recognised entity is, at best, only 15 years old. Many growing technologies were applied prior to this time, but it was not until the addition of Doppler ultrasound to the vascular surgeon's armamentarium that non-invasive diagnosis began to take hold. The vascular laboratory was necessary because angiography, which was felt to be the gold standard by many, was expensive, had the risk of potentially serious complications, and did not have the characteristics of a test which made it easily repeatable at frequent intervals. Most importantly, angiography was an anatomic evaluator and provided minimal information regarding function. Although pathologic anatomy and function are often related, the relationship is sufficiently weak to dictate the need for an accurate method of functional evaluation. This was the role of the early vascular laboratories. Today's vascular laboratory provides both functional and anatomic information. In some cases, the anatomic information is superior to that which can be obtained from angiography.