The main goal of the Department of Vascular Surgery II, headed by Dr. Maria Grazia Bordoni, is prevention and treatment of diseases of the circulatory system. The team performs around 150 surgical procedures and sees over 1,800 patients each year.

From the first outpatient visit, which can be booked privately by the National Health Service, to Day-Hospital interventions, and all the way up to hospitalization and more complex surgical procedures; the activities of the team, lead by Dr. Bordoni, are dedicated to the treatment of all vascular diseases.

Venous diseases of the lower limbs are common, even in young people. The treatment offered goes from the outpatient visit with recommendations for proper prevention, all the way to sclerotherapy and minimally invasive surgical techniques.

An innovative and acceptable approach by patients is the treatment system for varicose veins of the lower limbs in Day Hospital: there is no need for admission in the ward; the patient can enter Humanitas in the morning, undergo surgery under regional anesthesia, and return back home in the afternoon.

Every step of the treatment process is followed by the same surgeon met in the clinic; the one who has visited and explained to the patient the details of the intervention, and who then proceeds to follow the course and convalescence, with a direct line between doctor and medical assistant.

The date of the surgery itself can be booked in advance, aiming to meet the personal needs of the patient, or, if necessary, programmed in the shortest possible time.

 

Patients with major cardiovascular risk factors – smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, sedentary lifestyle, obesity, family history – are more frequently affected by arterial diseases. These diseases may have characteristics of stenosis, or narrowing of the artery or aneurysm, with loss of tone of the vessel wall which can therefore expand gradually.

The vascular visit and use of non-invasive diagnostic tools, such as Eco-Doppler, are particularly important because often the disorders appear only at an advanced stage and early diagnosis can change the course of the disease. The arteries most commonly affected by plaques (in addition to the coronary arteries of the heart), are the carotid arteries, the arteries of the lower limbs and the renal arteries. Stenosis, i.e. narrowing caused by plaque, can cause decreased blood flow to the brain (transient ischemic episodes or stroke), severe alterations of circulation in the extremities (with onset of pain in varying degrees or ulcers and gangrene) and dysfunction of various organs. The aorta, the largest artery of the body, is most frequently subject to expansion (in more than 4% of individuals over the ages of 65): the aneurysm increases, generally without presenting any symptoms, up until it causes a rupture of the vessel, however, it can be easily diagnosed and treated in time.

 

The treatment techniques for arterial disease are more effective, less invasive and evolving in every step with advanced technological and scientific progress. Optimization of the process of diagnosis and therapy, maximum integration with other specialties and particular attention to the relationship with the patient and their family are among the founding principles of the Operating Unit of Vascular Surgery II. The team uses every tool available nowadays for the diagnosis and treatment of various circulatory districts, with particular emphasis on endovascular intervention methods (with radiological control) as an alternative or complement to surgery. The pre-operative preparation of the patient undergoing an intervention, whether surgical or endovascular, provides in-depth investigations, especially in the field of cardiology, in order to exclude frequent associations with heart disease or, if present, to proceed with the most appropriate form of therapy. Each step of the diagnostic process is illustrated to the patient in a way to make them aware as much as possible of their choices of treatment.