May 14, 2018 — The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) announced the launch of the SCAI PAD Diagnosis and Treatment Resource Center. This center will be an ongoing, patient-centered quality improvement initiative focused on helping increase peripheral artery disease (PAD) awareness in the cardiovascular and internal medicine community by delving into the underlying risks of this disease state.
PAD impacts more than 10 million patients in the United States alone yet is woefully underdiagnosed. Lack of screening, underdiagnosis and undertreatment of PAD represent a critical gap in service to patients, as even asymptomatic PAD status is associated with the high long-term cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Therefore, PAD has been targeted as one of SCAI’s key areas for quality improvement.
“I am excited to co-chair this important SCAI initiative on PAD awareness and education,” said Rajesh Swaminathan, M.D., FSCAI. “The condition is nearly as prevalent as CAD [coronary artery disease], yet still underdiagnosed. Early identification of PAD is key to proper counseling, risk factor modification and management to prevent future adverse clinical outcomes. The goal here is to provide PAD education, with incorporation of new clinical data in various formats, to inform and engage referring physicians, advanced practice providers, and fellows-in-training,” said Swaminathan.
The initiative also aims to improve the management and outcomes for PAD patients by providing a comprehensive review of “PAD 101.” This includes comprehensive discussions of:
- Emerging data for secondary prevention in stable PAD;
- Presentations to understand how to manage PAD patients; and
- When to refer PAD patients for invasive therapies.
The multiyear program will be comprised of the following components:
- The PAD Diagnosis and Treatment Resource Center: A five-part modular resource center hosted on SCAI’s website and packaged for easy download and dissemination; and
- Webcast Series: A series of 30-minute webcasts based upon the PAD Diagnosis and Treatment Resource Center topics.
“The invasive therapy module will provide an evidence-based overview of the benefits of endovascular therapy and will help to clarify which patients should be considered for such therapy,” said Dmitriy Feldman, M.D., FSCAI, co-chair of the working group. “Furthermore, this module will focus on the SCAI-led Appropriate Use Criteria in EVT document as well as the newly released at SCAI 2018 Consensus Guidelines for Device Selection in Femoral-Popliteal Arterial Interventions.”
For more information: www.scai.org/padtoolkit
January 23, 2024 
