ESVS Podcasts: Connecting with the World

The radio was born in 1895 and for decades was the main source of information and entertainment in most parts of the world. Cinema and electronic television were introduced in 1895 and 1927, respectively, and attracted much attention, but the radio never disappeared. The internet, opened to the public in 1991 as the World Wide Web, made all forms of communication evolve. Podcasts, previously known as “audioblogs”, appeared in the 1980s. They are audio clips available on demand. In the last 15 years multiple podcast platforms have flourished, and there are now more than 115 000 English language podcasts accessible on the internet and dozens of websites available for distribution.

The European Society for Vascular Surgery (ESVS) was founded in 1987. The society has evolved, too. In particular, in the last five years, it has moved toward professionalism and new technologies. Among other investments and new activities, podcasts were launched in September 2019. In three years, 84 ESVS podcasts have been released. They are all open access, uploaded to the EJVES Vascular Forum webpage (www.ejvesreports.com/content/podcasts) and in the ESVS e-library; they are also available on mainstream platforms (SoundCloud since March 2020, Spotify since June 2020, and Apple podcasts since March 2022).

The ESVS podcasts have been listened to more than 11 000 times and, to date, they have more than 750 followers from all over the world. They have experimented with different formats: commentaries of EJVES Editor’s Choice papers, recorded audio Edutorials, newsletters, interviews, and clinical scenarios. They have addressed all areas of vascular pathology, from the epidemiology of abdominal aortic aneurysms and differences in presentation and outcomes of peripheral arterial disease in men and women to the latest technical innovations like inner branches in complex endovascular aortic repair. The statistics show us that listeners are interested in all of them. The top six ESVS podcasts to date are Clinical Scenarios 1 and 2, which explore the best medical treatment in patients after iliac stenting or in those suffering from intermittent claudication; interviews with Professor S. Debus on the VOYAGER trial, and Professors J. Powell and J. Boyle on the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and ESVS guidelines on the management of abdominal aortic aneurysms; a commentary on the paper Drug coated balloon angioplasty vs. standard percutaneous transluminal angioplasty in below the knee peripheral arterial disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis; and the editorial How to avoid lymphatic wound complications after vascular groin surgery. Different topics and different formats fill a need for education and debate. Listeners are also encouraged to write to [email protected] to ask questions or to highlight areas of controversy or lack of knowledge that will be researched and developed into podcasts, in a podcast format called Ask Away.

The podcast team was initially formed by Melina Vega de Ceniga, Egle Kavaliunaite, Carlota Fernández Prendes, and Liliana Fidalgo (Fig. 1A), as part of the EJVES Vascular Forum staff. The ESVS podcasts are now moving on to their second phase; they are branching out to form an official Podcast Group, which will be within the ESVS but independent of the EJVES Vascular Forum, and in collaboration with all other ESVS activities (the EJVES and EJVES Vascular Forum journals, the Academy, the webinars, the Guidelines Committee, etc.). The members of this newly appointed Podcast Group, selected via an open application process, are Egle Kavaliunaite, Suzanne Stokmans, Vaiva Dabravolskaité, and Laurence Bertrand (Fig. 1B). New and ongoing projects include interviews with the principal investigators of the BEST CLI (Best Endovascular vs. Best Surgical Therapy in Patients with Critical Limb Ischaemia) trial, Ask Away question and answer short pieces on the dual pathway inhibition strategy, in depth analysis of surgeon modified endografts, the current management of mesenteric ischaemia, and much more.

The aim of EJVES Vascular Forum and the ESVS podcasts has always been to deliver education in easy access and modern formats, to participate in the debate, and, especially, to encourage interaction with the audience, readers, listeners, and colleagues. The team is truly thankful for the warm welcome, acceptance and enthusiasm with which the podcasts have been received. We feel responsible and motivated to deliver more and better pieces in the years to come. Catch you on the air!