Trends and variations in the use of vascular surgery in Ontario.

OBJECTIVE: To measure changes over time in overall surgical rates and geographic rate variations for three major vascular procedures (abdominal aortic aneurysm repairs, peripheral vascular disease procedures and carotid endarterectomies). BACKGROUND: There is little research literature on population-based usage profiles of vascular procedures. The three procedures profiled were all subject to marked shifts in evidence or surgical opinions, …