Research related to surgical treatment of aortic and peripheral vascular disease.

The history of vascular surgery and the developments that made it possible are briefly traced. Approaches to the treatment of arterial lesions are considered in terms of the characteristic anatomic, pathologic and clinical patterns of arteriosclerosis or atherosclerosis, the basic underlying lesion in most aneurysmal and occlusive diseases of the aorta and major arteries. The importance of appreciating the various patterns and rates of progression of atherosclerosis is emphasized.