Vascular medicine

Your vascular system works to deliver oxygen and nutrients throughout your body, keeping your organs and heart healthy. Vascular disease occurs when plaque, a buildup of cholesterol and fat, blocks blood flow in your vessels, leading to serious problems that require specialized care.

Penn Medicine’s heart and vascular medicine providers specialize in diagnosing and treating conditions affecting the arteries, veins, and lymphatics, the network of vessels supporting the circulatory system. As one of only sixteen centers in the nation offering vascular medicine training programs, we’re at the forefront of advancing vascular medicine care, research, and education.

When you choose Penn Medicine, you’ll find the best doctors for vascular care. We’re regularly acknowledged for our talent by both peers and consumers and have been recognized by Best Doctors in America, Philadelphia Magazine’s Top Docs™, and America’s Top Doctors.

Our vascular medicine program offers:

• Personalized vascular health plan: Our lipid disorders clinic, one of the largest in the region for treating high cholesterol, tailors a treatment plan designed to fit your lifestyle and to help you make real changes.
• Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) apheresis program: For people with unusually high LDL levels that don’t respond to medication, our LDL apheresis program, one of the largest in the country, offers a dialysis-like treatment.
• Advanced vascular testing and diagnosis: Our accredited vascular laboratory uses state-of-the-art technology to monitor your health before, during, and after treatment, providing the highest quality of care.

Complete care for every vascular condition

We treat all vascular conditions, from the simplest to the most complex. Our program focuses on prevention and early detection to reduce risks before problems arise. When symptoms do occur, we prioritize non-surgical treatments whenever possible. We start with noninvasive diagnostic methods and lifestyle changes. If needed, we offer drug therapy, laser therapy, and non-invasive varicose and spider vein treatment, as well as procedures like balloon angioplasty and stenting.

Our vascular surgeons are leaders in advanced techniques such as aneurysm endografts, limb preservation, and treatment for carotid stenosis and thoracic outlet syndrome. As a high-volume center, we regularly perform procedures that are less common elsewhere, making us uniquely qualified to care for all individuals, including those at high risk.

At Penn Medicine, we’re advancing vascular care through cutting-edge research. As an academic medical center, we’re pushing the frontiers of vascular imaging, minimally invasive stenting, and treatments that improve life expectancy for people with peripheral artery disease (PAD). Our research includes exploring cell therapy to grow new arteries in the legs and developing new medications to relieve leg pain (claudication) caused by PAD. Our research opens opportunities for access to clinical trials, giving you the potential to benefit from new therapies.