From our Glossary—Words beginning with "U" through "V"

You can view these terms and others used in the diagnosis and treatment of vascular disease on our web site. We've made them easy-to-understand to help you in talking with health care professionals. Each newsletter will cover a section from our glossary.

Ultrasonic Duplex Scanning: The diagnostic test for PAD that produces images of arteries or veins on a screen via the use of ultrasound equipment. This test is used to locate blocked arteries or measure their size.

Vascular Medicine: A branch of medicine that deals primarily in medical treatment of vascular diseases. A rapidly expanding area of modern medicine.

Vascular Surgeon: A physician with a specialty in performing surgery to either remove the plaque from an artery or to bypass the area of obstruction with a graft. Also is involved in the medical treatment of vascular disease.

Vessels: The tube-like structures in the circulatory system that are responsible for circulating blood within the body. The three kinds of vessels are arteries, veins and lymphatics. Capillaries are the microscopic structures that connect arteries and veins at the tissues.

Veins: Blood vessels that carry the blood from the body back to the heart.

Venous: The circulatory system of veins.