Vascular surgery is a subspecialty of general surgery in which diseases of the vascular system, or arteries and veins, are managed, largely via surgical intervention. The vascular surgeon is trained in the diagnosis & management of diseases affecting all parts of the vascular system except that of the heart & brain. Cardiothoracic surgeons manage surgical disease of the heart and its vessels. Neurosurgeons manage surgical disease of the vessels in the brain (eg intracranial aneurysms).

Previously considered a field within general surgery, it is now considered a specialty in its own right. As a result, training has been, or is being re-structured from previously having to complete full general surgery training followed by a period of further vascular surgery training, to being trained in vascular surgery alone from start to finish.

Conventional medical treatments may help relieve the symptoms of Buerger’s disease but they do not address the root of the problem. Vascular surgery can sometimes be helpful in treating limbs with poor perfusion secondary to this disease. Use of vascular growth factor and stem cell injections. Amputation is common and more severe in patients who continue to use tobacco.