Inter-Society Consensus for the Management of Peripheral Arterial Disease (TASC II)

The Trans-Atlantic Inter-Society Consensus Document on Management of Peripheral Arterial Disease (TASC) was published in January 2000 as a result of cooperation between fourteen medical and surgical vascular, cardiovascular, vascular radiology and cardiology societies in Europe and North America. This comprehensive document had a major impact on vascular care amongst specialists. In subsequent years, the field has progressed with the publication of the CoCaLis document and the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Guidelines for the Management of Peripheral Arterial Disease. Aiming to continue to reach a readership of vascular specialists, but also physicians in primary health care who see patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD), another consensus process was initiated during 2004. This new consensus document has been developed with a broader international representation, including Europe, North America, Asia, Africa and Australia, and with a much larger distribution and dissemination of the information. The goals of this new consensus are to provide an abbreviated document (compared with the publication in 2000), to focus on key aspects of diagnosis and management, and to update the information based on new publications and the newer guidelines, but not to add an extensive list of references. Unreferenced statements are, therefore, to be found, provided they are recognized as common practice by the authors, with existing evidence. The recommendations are graded according to levels of evidence. It should also be emphasized that good practice is based on a combination of the scientific evidence described below, patients’ preferences, and local availability of facilities and trained professionals. Good practice also includes appropriate specialist referral.