Last September 15th and 16th, as a member of the IAGS (International Andreas Gruentzig Society), I felt privileged for the opportunity to participate in an absolutely unique and most inspiring event: a trip to Zürich, Switzerland to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Andreas Gruentzig’s first coronary angioplasty. As if going to the same hospital where it all happened on September 16, 1977 and gathering in the same auditorium where some of the first-ever live demonstration courses took place (Figure 1) were not enough, we were presented with an even greater surprise: the chance to meet Andre

Introduction
Acute arterial ischemia is defined as the sudden decrease in blood flow to a tissue bed due to an embolism or thrombosis, resulting in a potential threat to the viability of the area.¹ The intravascular administration of thrombolytic agents originated in the 1960s for the treatment of pulmonary embolism. Thrombolysis by selective catheter infusion for vascular occlusion entered the mainstream during the 1970s.² Thrombolytic agents have been successfully employed to dissolve the occluding thrombus, reconstitute blood flow and improve the status of the

Introduction
Chronic lower-extremity ischemia affects approximately 10% of patients over the age of 70, with the total number of affected patients exceeding 10 million. Within this group, only a fraction of patients have symptoms consistent with intermittent claudication, and even fewer of these ultimately present to a physician with complaints related to their arterial disease. In addition to the functional limitations caused by pain with walking, many patients fear limb loss as an ultimate complication and outcome. However, it is imperative that physicians emphasize how unlikely an

In this issue of Vascular Disease Management, Sharifi et al, obviously cardiologists, did a nice job treating their patient and identifying a great clinical need, an aggressive endovascular interventional mindset and treatment for venous thrombotic disease (VTD). They are to be congratulated for their “call to action” for more cardiologists becoming involved with treating VTD. This “call to action” has gone out before and must also be repeated to all surgical and radiology specialists and to all multidisciplinary healthcare providers who treat or manage vascular disease, includi