Definition: Vascular surgery is the division of medicine specializing in treating the blood vessels of the body, with the exception of the vessels of the heart. Vascular surgeons may work to restore blood flow to an area of the body after trauma, disease or another issue damages blood vessels.

Vascular surgery is a specialty of surgery in which diseases of the vascular system, or arteries and veins, are managed by medical therapy, minimally-invasive catheter procedures, and surgical reconstruction. The specialty evolved from general and cardiac surgery. Early pioneers of the field include Russian surgeon Nikolai Korotkov, noted for developing early surgical techniques, and Robert Paton, one of the first Australian vascular surgeons and often credited with helping the field achieve recognition as a speciality. Edwin Wylie of San Francisco was one of the early American pioneers who developed and fostered advanced training in vascular surgery and pushed for its recognition as a specialty in the United States in the 1970s. The vascular surgeon is trained in the diagnosis and management of diseases affecting all parts of the vascular system except that of the heart and brain.Cardiothoracic surgeons manage surgical disease of the heart and its vessels. Neurosurgeons and Interventional Neuroradiologists manage surgical disease of the vessels in the brain