Tracking National Trends Of the nearly 10 million Americans estimated to have vascular disease, only 3.5 million experience symptoms while only 1.5 million receive treatment. In other words, roughly 8.5 million Americans walk the streets completely unaware of their chronic and often fatal illness.
Lack of awareness is a key issue among both patients and diagnosing physicians.
While general care physicians may remain unaware of crucial vascular diagnoses and treatments, due to the constantly changing standard of care, vascular specialists actively compete for those 1.5 million patients. Many hospitals already have specialists skirmishing over vascular territory with Interventional Radiology, Cardiology and Vascular Surgery attempting to claim clinical turf within their institutions. Many programs find Nephrologists, Neurosurgeons, Neuroradiologists, Podiatrists, Cardiothoracic Surgeons and other specialists vying for the same patients. Territorial disputes within hospitals pale in comparison to what will be fierce competition between hospitals providing these services. Volumes will rise as Baby Boomers age and require vascular services.