Peripheral vascular disease—a term to be eschewed
BMJ 1995; 310 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.310.6988.1197d (Published 06 May 1995) Cite this as: BMJ 1995;310:1197- C V Ruckley
- Professor of vascular surgery Department of Surgery, Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh EH3 9YW
EDITOR,—What's in a name? Quite a lot, if it happens to be seriously misleading. The term peripheral vascular disease is widely used as synonymous with obliterative arterial disease of the limbs. This fosters a double misconception since vascular care is limited neither to arterial disease nor to the periphery.
Misconceptions such as these are not trivial, since they have far reaching and damaging effects on clinical attitudes, referral practices, the provision of resources, research funding, training, …
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