ABSTRACT
Vascular disease is common, frequently needing medical or surgical intervention, only a few of which usually necessitate ICU admission:
n aneurysm repair n carotid artery repair.
In addition to needs created by often prolonged and major operations, surgery on major arteries creates risks from:
n major bleeds; n organ and tissue damage from perioperative ischaemia distal to the repair; n thrombus/embolus formation (especially strokes); n patients often having extensive vascular and other diseases that complicate
recovery.
