Surgeon General Asks AVF Leaders to Sustain Momentum

AVF Answers the Surgeon General Call to Action

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Monday, September 15th 2008: The Acting Surgeon General spoke to the leadership of the American Venous Forum about raising national awareness of the risks of Deep Vein Thrombosis and Pulmonary Embolism just moments after issuing a "Call to Action" on the condition.

Acting Surgeon General Steven K. Galson, M.D., M.P.H. announced the Call to Action at the annual meeting of the Venous Disease Coalition on September 15.  A Call to Action establishes a national public health priority to combat conditions, such as smoking and obesity, which put at risk the health of millions of Americans. After delivering his remarks, he met with AVF leaders and visited the screening booth AVF operated all day for meeting participants. He discussed ways to sustain the federal government action with AVF leaders.

"We are answering the Surgeon General’s Call to Action," said Marc A. Passman, M.D., an Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Chairman, AVF National Venous Screening Program.  Robert B. McLafferty, M.D., secretary of the AVF, said that  the Call to Action and new guidelines issued by the American College of Chest Physicians should help support AVF’s work to raise awareness of the risks of DVT and PE among primary care physicians and the public.

"Having the government put such a strong emphasis on DVT should help us sustain our efforts to increase awareness," said Joann Lohr, M.D., president of AVF.

In his remarks to the Venous Disease Coalition, Dr. Galson said that the estimated 100,000 deaths from DVT and PE each year was the equivalent of the disappearance of a city the size of Cambridge, Massachusetts.

"Deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolisms are often silent conditions – they can occur suddenly and without symptoms," he said in his prepared remarks. "But we have made a lot of progress in understanding how these disorders develop and how to prevent, diagnose, and treat them.  It’s time to put this knowledge into action."

The Surgeon General’s national Call to Action is an outgrowth of a Surgeon General workshop held two years ago. It is intended to serve as a catalyst for the development of coordinated efforts to prevent and treat DVT and PE.  The published plan, available at http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/calls/index.html, urges a coordinated multifaceted plan to reduce the number of cases now estimated at between 350,000 and 600,000 each year.  The plan emphasizes the need for increased awareness, evidence-based practices for DVT and more research into the causes, prevention and treatment of deep vein thrombosis.

The AVF, National Screening Program now entering it’s fourth year has conducted more than 300 screening events in more than 40 states with over 6,000 participants to increase public awareness of acute and chronic venous diseases. The screening held at the Surgeon General announcement in conjunction with Venous Disease Coalition (VDC) 2nd annual meeting was intended to help educate participants on ways to increase awareness about venous disease and venous thromboembolism. Representing the AVF at the Call to Action and VDC events were Drs Passman, McLafferty, and Lohr, along with past president Thomas Wakefield, M.D., president-elect Joseph Caprini, M.D., and treasurer David Gillespy, M.D.

Melanie Bloom, the national patient spokesperson for the Coalition to Prevent Deep-Vein Thrombosis, went through the screening after the Surgeon General’s remarks.  Her husband, David Bloom, the NBC correspondent, died of a fatal blood clot at the age of 39 while covering the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. She has made it her personal mission to raise public awareness of the condition.