Extras · 1 of 4

A typical day

7 a.m. rounds. First case: an aneurysm repair through two small groin punctures, watching the stent open on the X-ray screen. Then a leg bypass, several hours of stitching an artery a few millimetres wide. On clinic days, 20 patients with leg pain when they walk, foot wounds that will not heal, or a narrowed neck artery that could cause a stroke. On call, you might open a ruptured aneurysm at midnight with the patient's life measured in minutes.