Vascular surgeons and best medical therapy: Missed opportunities?

Abstract

Multiple guidelines recommend the use of best medical therapy (BMT) as secondary prevention for patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD) but prescription and adherence are generally sub-optimal.1 The issue is not specific to vascular surgeons. Patients referred with suspected peripheral arterial disease are only started on antiplatelet agents and statins by their primary care physician in about half of cases.2 Following coronary artery bypass grafting, 1 in 5 patients are discharged without a statin prescription.3 Using a series of structured interviews through an implementation science lens, Xu et al. have identified a number of potential obstacles to improve BMT prescription patterns.4