Vascular Surgery

Vascular Laboratory

The Vascular Laboratory at NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital offers patients high-quality, painless diagnostic studies and provides referring physicians with interpretations that assist their care of patients with vascular disease. All studies are performed by professional vascular technologists and interpreted by attending surgeons specializing in vascular surgery.

An Accredited Laboratory

Our Vascular Laboratory is accredited by the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Vascular Laboratories and undergoes rigorous testing to ensure the accuracy of all studies performed.

Vascular Diagnostic Services

We offer the following tests to evaluate symptoms, assess vascular function, and diagnose vascular disease:

• Carotid duplex studies. We use ultrasound to see if there are blockages (stenosis) in the carotid arteries, which carry blood to the brain. Such studies are useful for screening patients with significant risk factors for stroke, such as diabetes, smoking, or a history of atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries).
• Noninvasive lower and upper extremity arterial studies. Doctors use these tests to determine if there is narrowing of the arteries in the arms or legs that may be causing pain, limping, or other symptoms. Examples of these tests include segmental pressures, ankle brachial indices, and pulse carotid
•  recordings. Patients needing dialysis have arterial studies of the arm done prior to "angioaccess" surgery.
• Graft surveillance studies. We use duplex ultrasound to perform these studies to determine if a blood vessel bypass in the leg (for peripheral arterial disease) is functioning well.
• Arterial duplex studies. Patients who had an angiogram or catheterization for a blocked artery in the heart sometimes experience injuries to the femoral artery in the groin, where the catheter was inserted. Doctors use arterial duplex studies to assess these injuries as well as other lesions.
• Visceral artery duplex. Abdominal duplex ultrasound is a quick and easy way to gauge the risk of an abdominal aortic aneurysm in patients with a mass in the abdomen. Ultrasound is also used as an initial screening tool for patients who may need an endovascular repair. Duplex studies are also useful to screen for disease in the intestinal (mesenteric) arteries.
• Venous duplex. Detection of a blood clot in the leg (deep vein thrombosis, or DVT) using duplex ultrasound can decrease the risk of a pulmonary embolism (a clot that travels to the lungs), clotting, and/or impaired blood flow. This test is also useful in patients with chronic venous insufficiency.
• Vein mapping. Mapping of the veins to be used for bypass surgery is commonly performed before heart or leg surgery.