Research & Recognition

• Our clinical trials have provided the foundation for the development of cutting-edge procedures and prescription drugs that have become standard treatments around the world.
• Our surgeons are at the forefront of carotid angioplasty and stenting research, participating in nearly a dozen national clinical trials sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and others.
• Over the last 15 years, the Division has been awarded more than 20 million dollars to promote its basic science research endeavors.
• In 2010, the Carotid Revascularization Endarterectomy vs. Stenting Trial (CREST), a study involving 117 centers in the United States that included our vascular surgery group, concluded that carotid endarterectomy and carotid artery stenting were equally safe and effective.
• In early 2008, Emory Vascular Surgeons were the first in Georgia to use the Talent Thoracic Stent Graft to treat an aortic aneurysm. The new stent makes endovascular aneurysm repair possible for 25 percent more patients with thoracic aortic aneurysms.
• In 2000, the Division was one of the first vascular programs in the country to evaluate gene therapy for the treatment of peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Based on those evaluations, innovative clinical programs to develop and test new pharmacologic agents are ongoing.

• In a typical year, our clinical faculty cares for more than 8,000 outpatients, diagnoses more than 5,000 patients in our Non-invasive Vascular Laboratory and performs more than 2,000 major vascular and endovascular procedures.
• Since 2005, our faculty members have performed more than 700 open and endovascular repairs for thoracic aortic aneurysms; more than 1,200 open and endovascular repairs for abdominal aortic aneurysms; more than 750 carotid endarterectomies and stenting procedures; more than 1,200 lower extremity bypass, angioplasty and stenting procedures; and more than 600 endovenous laser ablations to treat varicose veins.

• In 1934, Daniel Elkin, MD, the first chairman of the Department of Surgery at Emory and a 20th century pioneer in the treatment of vascular disease, published a pivotal report detailing treatment of 62 aneurysms. At the time, this was the largest collection of patients to be successfully managed by surgical intervention.
• During the 1960s, Garland Perdue, MD, chief of the Division of Vascular Surgery, initiated the first stroke prevention program at Emory, establishing what has remained one of the Division's primary areas of focus.
• Emory physicians pioneered endovascular therapy (including the use of stents within blood vessels) in the 1970s. Today, endovascular-based treatments are widely used around the world to manage a variety of vascular conditions.
• By the early 1980s, the Division was a vanguard program in assessing and refining techniques for treating carotid artery disease, and by the close of the 1990s, our surgeons had established carotid endarterectomy as a safe and effective option for managing the condition.
• Former Division director Elliot Chaikof, MD, initiated a wide range of clinical trials in 1992 that were essential to the development of endovascular grafts for the treatment of abdominal and thoracic aortic aneurysms.