Serbia

Abstract

At the beginning of the second decade of the 20th century, Serbian surgeon V. Soubbotich reported his experience regarding treatment of vascular injuries from the Balkan Wars (1912-13). At the end of the 20th century, the former Yugoslavia experienced civil war, closely followed by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) bombing of Serbia. As a result of these unpleasant facts, the author’s generation of vascular surgeons had the opportunity to treat a significant number of vascular injuries. In the absence of national registers, the most reliable data related to vascular injuries in Serbia can be found in the database of the Clinic for Vascular and Endovascular Surgery of the Serbian Clinical Center. This database contains records from patients with 590 peripheral arterial injuries sustained between 1992 and 2001. Of these injuries, 140 were war-related and 273 occurred in the civilian settings. During the 2002-18 (“peacetime”) period, an additional number of 870 vascular injuries was included in the register. These data revealed that the treatment of vascular injury in the region of the Western Balkans is associated with two main problems. The first one is inefficient transportation of the injured; the second is the lack of qualified vascular surgeons. The result is a significant number of redo procedures, usually followed by decreased functionality of the extremity. In the majority of cases with vascular injuries, open surgical repair is the most common option. On the other hand, in most developed countries, residents and young vascular surgeons do not have sufficient experience in the conventional treatment of vascular trauma; for this reason additional education and training in open vascular surgery is still needed. Young vascular surgeons and residents in Serbia do not lack this training. © 2022 Elsevier Inc.