2023 Vascular Research Initiatives Conference: Structural and Immune Cells in Vascular Disease

The 2023 Vascular Research Initiatives Conference (VRIC) was held in Boston, Massachusetts, and coincided with the first day of Vascular Discovery 2023, hosted by the American Heart Association. VRIC attracts vascular clinicians, surgeon-scientists, and basic science researchers to a common arena to facilitate the exchange of basic and translational science to stimulate and inspire participants to study and find solutions to vascular conditions. The theme of the conference this year was “Structural and Immune Cells in Vascular Disease.” Abstract sessions focused on venous disease, vascular regeneration, stem cells and wound healing, aortopathies, and the role of the immune system in atherosclerosis. A moderated translational science panel included talks from Dr Chiara Giannarelli and Dr Bhama Ramkhelawon. Recipients of Society for Vascular Surgery partner grants and National Institutes of Health K08 awardees presented their progress reports, and the Resident Research and VRIC Trainee Awardees were acknowledged. The Alexander W. Clowes Distinguished Lecture, entitled “Co-stimulatory Immune Checkpoints in Atherosclerosis: Novel Immunotherapeutic Targets to Combat Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease” was given by Dr Ester Lutgens. VRIC continues to foster interdisciplinary collaborations across the translational field of vascular disease

Implications of preoperative arterial stiffness for patients treated with endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms

Arterial stiffening is associated with adverse cardiovascular patient outcomes; stiffness may also be associated with postsurgical events and has been suggested to be a fundamental mechanism in the pathogenesis of aortic aneurysms. Although open repair of aneurysms decreases aortic stiffness, implantation of a rigid endograft is associated with increased aortic stiffness after endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR). This review provides an overview of aortic wall physiology and the contemporary understanding of aortic stiffness and its implications for patients undergoing abdominal aortic aneurysm repair. Recent data suggests that increased central arterial stiffness, estimated preoperatively using the pulse wave velocity (PWV), may predict aneurysm sac behavior after EVAR, with elevated preoperative PWV associated with less sac shrinkage, and even sac enlargement, after EVAR. With the development of several simple noninvasive methods to measure PWV, such as brachial-ankle PWV and single cuff brachial oscillometry, there may be a role for monitoring ambulatory PWV to predict outcomes after EVAR. Additionally, because aortic stiffness is associated with adverse cardiovascular outcomes, and EVAR increases aortic stiffness, assessment of aortic stiffness before aortic interventions may help to guide therapeutic decisions as well as surveillance protocols, leading to optimized patient outcomes