The History of the DGG

The DGG was founded on 7 December 1984.

The German Society for Vascular Surgery was founded on the sidelines of the 7th Munich Vascular Surgery Conference, with Prof. Dr. med. Henner Müller-Wiefel as its president. The following year, the first annual conference of the German Society for Vascular Surgery took place in Düsseldorf – together with the 8th Munich Vascular Surgery Conference.

The young society passed its professional policy trial by fire in 1988: During the revision of the further training regulations, it succeeded in convincing the German Medical Association that special vascular surgery should be assigned exclusively to the sub-field of "vascular surgery" and should no longer be part of further training in the sub-field of "thoracic and cardiovascular surgery".

In October of the same year, Dr. Karl Rendl organised the first joint annual conference in Salzburg on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Austrian Society for Vascular Surgery. The friendship grew stronger: in 1991, the Austrian Society paid a return visit to Augsburg (conference president Prof. Henning Loeprecht) and in 1995 a joint annual conference was held in Salzburg, this time together with Swiss colleagues (conference president again Karl Rendl). This gave rise to the so-called "Three Countries Conference", which takes place every three years, alternating between Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Not least as a result of the personal relationships that developed from these tri-national conferences, the German, Austrian and Swiss societies founded the journal "Gefäßchirurgie" (Vascular Surgery) as a joint publication in 1995.

In 2003, the German Society for Vascular Surgery launched its programme for the certification of vascular centres, which has developed very successfully. Over 200 centres have since been certified and recertified.

In order to raise public awareness of vascular diseases and the need for competent treatment by vascular surgery specialists, the first national Vascular Day was organised in 2005. Over 226 clinics nationwide took part and provided information about vascular surgery to patients and interested parties. This success ensured that Vascular Day has been held annually on 16 November ever since.

The increasing number of members and strong growth made a structural reorganisation necessary. Accordingly, the Private Academy for Vascular Surgery and Vascular Medicine was founded in 2006. With the Private Academy for Vascular Surgery and Vascular Medicine, the German Society for Vascular Surgery and Vascular Medicine promotes further training, among other things. The Summer Academy, which took place for the eighth time in 2024, provides support in preparing for the specialist examination and in continuing education in various areas and techniques. Since 2007, there have also been courses for further training as a vascular assistant and endovascular assistant.

After 25 years, our annual conference was held exactly where it all began: in Munich. Here, the new name was approved at the general meeting and, after registration on 1 March 2010, publicly announced: German Society for Vascular Surgery and Vascular Medicine (DGG) – Society for Operative, Endovascular and Preventive Vascular Medicine e.V.

In November 2009, the DGG founded the German Institute for Vascular Research (DIGG) as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the German Society for Vascular Surgery and Vascular Medicine. The purpose of this institute is to promote scientific work in vascular surgery and vascular medicine, as well as the scientific investigation, research, processing and registration of health policy data.

Since its foundation, the number of members of the German Society for Vascular Surgery and Vascular Medicine has risen steadily. With an annual growth rate of > 10%, it is one of the most dynamic scientific societies in Germany. The increase in young vascular surgery assistants is particularly encouraging.

Many small and large milestones have been achieved since 1984, and we will achieve many more.