Background:
Palliative care is a concept for all patients suffering from life threatening diseases. It is not limited to cancer patients or to the last few days of life. Current research on diseases and concomitant diagnoses in vascular surgery suggests a high need for palliative care. Specific palliative concepts for vascular medicine are still lacking.

Methods:
We conducted a study on the subjective views of experts in vascular surgery in Germany using a qualitative interview method to examine various aspects of palliative care in vascular surgery.

Results:
A total of 609 relevant text passages were identified and coded into seven main categories and 43 subcategories. The coding categories were as follows: description of the current situation of care in vascular surgery, identification of palliative vascular surgery patients’, description of palliative care symptoms requiring treatment, methods for identifying palliative vascular surgery patients, desired effects of palliative care interventions, barriers to implementation of palliative care, and the role and needs of relatives.

Conclusions:
The results of this study suggest that vascular surgery palliative patients may represent a specific group of patients, necessitating the development of a customised palliative care concept to the specific needs of this group. The specific requirements for the care of these patients and numerous barriers currently prevent adequate palliative care of these patients. The results of our study, which we were able to extract from interviews with experienced vascular surgeons and their insights into everyday clinical practice, confirm the conclusions drawn in published clinical studies and supplement them with further aspects, which together appear necessary for improved care of this patient group in the future. Central aspects to be considered include suitable training of vascular surgeons for a comprehensive understanding of palliative care, as well as advance care planning and written standards defining the situations in which palliative care should routinely be offered.