Seeing as I'm between patients in Vascular Surgery Clinic ("dead toe Thursday" :wink: ) I thought I'd take some time to answer.
The range of procedures done by a vascular surgeon is fairly broad, the include (but are not limited to), the following:
bypass grafting - upper and lower extremity, and abdominal compartment (ie, fem-pops, aorto-biiliac, aorto-fem-fem, axillary-fem, etc.)
aneurysm repair - most typically, abdominal aortic aneurysms
carotid endartectomy
varicose vein stripping/ligation/sclerotherapy
amputations (generally, toes and legs)
debridement of multiple toes in various stages of gangrene; multiple dressing changes
placement of vascular access devices, or AV fistula placement
Our surgeons here work closely with the Interventional Radiologists, CT Surgeons and Vascular lab techs. While generally the hours are not too bad, the very *REAL* possibility of emergencies and grafts going down on you means that you can often be in the OR after hours/on weekends. It is EXTREMELY painful to see a graft fail after a 7 hour bypass operation (get yourself some comfy shoes and compression stockings, you'll NEED them as a vascular surgeon) and know that you need to go back to the OR urgently for repair. Clinics are painful because you see an endless succession of people in various stages of venous ulceration, arterial disease and with dead toes/feet. Hope you like Diabetics - most of your patients will be one. Hope you like amputations - you'll be salaming patients right and left.
Vascular is a very important surgical specialty and they serve a great purpose; its just not for me (as you can tell)!