Vascular Surgeon - Rotary Guest speaker
At the Rotary Club of Port Fairy's Dinner meeting on 23rd March, Associate Professor David McClure spoke on his work as a vascular surgeon and the changes in modern techniques where vascular surgery can be used to treat a range of diseases.
Professor McClure is currently the Director of the Geelong Vascular Service and supervisor of Vascular Surgical Training at Geelong Hospital.
He outlined the advances in modern, surgical techniques for treating common vascular problems in catheter labs including stent grafting for abdominal aortic aneurisms, carotid surgery for stroke prevention and angio-intervention for lower limb artery blockages. He also spoke of the treatment of varicose veins by laser therapy as distinct from the old method of vein stripping.
He emphasised that a good deal of his work is done on older patients and that age is not a barrier to successful treatment. Further, patients should encourage their GPs to refer vascular problems, leg and foot ulcers for treatment by these new techniques.
Dr. McClure closed his talk by giving a brief oversight of some his past work and teaching in developing nations like Vanuatu. Following the recent disaster caused in Vanuatu by Cyclone Pam, he and a team of doctors were travelling to Vanuatu later in the month to aid the recovery as part of an emergency health disaster response team. He provided details on aid programs and one which the Rotary Club of Santo was receiving donations to help the recovery effort.
Following a session of questions from the members, Rotarian, Kevin Matthews, thanked Dr. McClure for his informative speech and presented him with a small gift in appreciation.