LAUSR

Since 2011, the Spanish Society of Cardiology (SEC) has had a policy of endorsing all the clinical practice guidelines published by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). In an effort to increase awareness of the guidelines, they are translated into Spanish and published in Revista Española de Cardiología along with comments from a group of Spanish experts that highlight the most noteworthy aspects, criticize the limitations, and adapt the recommendations to everyday clinical practice in Spain. This article contains the comments on the recently published ESC guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment of peripheral vascular diseases,1 developed in collaboration with the European Society for Vascular Surgery (ESVS). The Guidelines Committee set up a working group composed of SEC members to comment on the guidelines. These guidelines update the first ESC clinical practice guidelines on peripheral vascular disease (PVD) published in 2011.2 Although PVD may appear to be beyond the scope of cardiology, nothing could be further from the truth. The guidelines stress the importance of increasing cardiologists’, vascular surgeons’ and other physicians’ awareness and knowledge of the common nature of arteriosclerotic disease and the risk factors in the different vascular territories, including extracranial carotid and vertebral disease. For example, they recommend screening for PVD in patients with cardiac or cerebrovascular disease, and vice versa, because these 2 locations are the most common causes of mortality in patients with PVD. The collaboration with the ESVS is also relevant, because vascular surgeons are increasingly more involved in treatment, not only for revascularization, but also epidemiological aspects and the medical treatment of arterial disease. The document contains a table titled “What is new in the 2017 PAD guidelines?” plus some key messages at the start of each chapter, by way of an introduction. Another interesting feature is the “questions and answers” section, only available in the additional online material, which includes 14 short clinical cases that clearly and specifically illustrate the practical application of the guideline recommendations. Below are the comments on the most important aspects, following the same order as the guideline sections.