The Vascular Surgeon is a specialist whose especially long training and education have allowed him to become more familiar with general surgery before learning, if he has so chosen, vascular surgery and its two arterial and venous branches. Depending on the type of pathology involved, his work may be done to ensure comfort or to improve aesthetic appearance (vein surgery), or, in more serious cases, it may play a vital role in conserving a member, preventing brain accidents or aneurysmal rupture (arterial surgery).

 The Surgeon is seldom directly consulted. In the majority of cases, the patient explains his symptoms to his family physician first. In other cases, asymptomatic illnesses (without any obvious symptoms) may call for specific screening, depending on the risk factors of each subject (tobacco, cholesterol, hypertension, diabetes, sedentary condition...).

 Often, the Family Physician seeks to confirm his diagnosis by asking for a blood circulation checkup (Doppler functional exploration) to be done by an Angiologist.

Finally, The Vascular Surgeon, in order to better define the work to be done and carry out the adequate operation, completes the information given by the Family Physician and the Angiologist by making additional examinations involving the use of precise technical radiology.

 In the best case senario, depending on the type of anomaly to be visualised, the method to use is discussed between the Surgeon and Radiologist. It may involve conventional arteriography or exploration using a scanner or NMR.

 The clinical examination or the Doppler examination alone cannot define the need for surgical operation, which needs 3 elements: the clinic, the Doppler exam and the radiological examinations.

 At that stage of the file's constitution, the Vascular Surgeon, having knowledge of these 3 elements, is able to find and apply the appropriate solution.