LEARN to Treat Peripheral Arterial Disease Patients

Society of Interventional Radiology's Lower Extremity Arterial RevascularizatioN Meeting Concentrates on Managing Patients With PAD; Register for Oct. 9-11 Course in Scottsdale, Ariz.

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Society of Interventional Radiology

Aug 27, 2014, 01:59 ET

FAIRFAX, Va., Aug. 27, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- About 8 million Americans have peripheral arterial disease (PAD) in the legs due to buildup of fatty plaque in the arteries, according to recent statistics. With increases expected in the aging patient population and in incidences of diabetes and obesity, the Society of Interventional Radiology offers its Lower Extremity Arterial RevascularizatioN (LEARN) meeting, Oct. 9–11 in Scottsdale, Ariz. Endovascular specialists and interested residents and fellows will be able to gain state-of-the-art data and technical insight in treating individuals with this disease, which affects 12–20 percent of U.S. seniors.

Attendees at this 2-½ day course will concentrate on the overall management of the PAD patient from diagnosis through treatment and follow-up and include examination of claudication and critical limb ischemia (CLI). It will offer a world-class multispecialty faculty; a symposium on new developments in renal denervation as a treatment for resistant hypertension; hands-on workshops enabling attendees to "test drive" the latest devices with instruction from experienced endovascular specialists; simulators to fine tune skills; and small, breakout sessions.

"The Society of Interventional Radiology's LEARN meeting provides highly specialized training in an intimate, interactive setting that endovascular specialists will not find anywhere else," said Bret N. Wiechmann, M.D., FSIR, an interventional radiologist who practices in Gainesville, Fla., and one of the program's coordinators. "This dedicated training focuses on PAD and lower-extremity interventions. It will enable doctors to provide patients with an advantage against a debilitating and devastating illness," he added.

In addition to Wiechmann, program coordinators include Robert A. Lookstein, M.D., FSIR, New York, N.Y. and Sanjay Misra, M.D., FSIR, Rochester, Minn. For full details or to register, visit http://www.SIRweb.org/meetings/SIR_LEARN.shtml or phone (703) 691-1805. View the full LEARN program and registration brochure, http://sirweb.org/meetings/LEARN2014_Brochure_FINAL_WEB.pdf. More information about the Society of Interventional Radiology, interventional radiologists and how to find an interventional radiologist in your area can be found online at http://www.sirweb.org.

About the Society of Interventional Radiology
Interventional radiologists are physicians who specialize in minimally invasive, targeted treatments. They offer the most in-depth knowledge of the least invasive treatments available coupled with diagnostic and clinical experience across all specialties. They use X-ray, MRI and other imaging to advance a catheter in the body, such as in an artery, to treat at the source of the disease internally. As the inventors of angioplasty and the catheter-delivered stent, which were first used in the legs to treat peripheral arterial disease, interventional radiologists pioneered minimally invasive modern medicine. Today, interventional oncology is a growing specialty area of interventional radiology. Interventional radiologists can deliver treatments for cancer directly to the tumor without significant side effects or damage to nearby normal tissue.

Many conditions that once required surgery can be treated less invasively by interventional radiologists. Interventional radiology treatments offer less risk, less pain and less recovery time compared to open surgery. Visit www.SIRweb.org.

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SOURCE Society of Interventional Radiology