Dr Yow Vascular Malaysia

25/01/2026

As a human being, healthcare professional & Vascular Trauma surgeon, this is appalling & has to stop!!..

‘I asked the ICE agents if the victim had a pulse, and they said they did not know,’ the doctor wrote in a sworn declaration

21/01/2026

BREAKFAST SYMPOSIUM AT HOSPITAL SHAH ALAM : '3 MOST IMPORTANT VASCULAR CONDITIONS THAT NEED REFERRAL' IN 2 DAYS TIME

WHEN : FRIDAY, 23RD JANUARY, 2026, 8 - 9 AM
WHERE : MAIN AUDITORIUM, HOSPITAL SHAH ALAM

THRILLED & PRIVELEGED TO HAVE BEEN INVITED TO PRESENT TO ALL MY MINISTRY OF HEALTH/KKM COLLEAGUES ON THE ABOVE TOPIC.

Vascular & Endovascular Surgery is a vital but under-exposed specialty in the modern, healthcare setting.

There are many critical areas where we as Vascular & Endovascular Surgeons are called upon for our surgical input & important conditions that we treat.

Teaser : It will be on any one of these topics:

Carotid Surgery in Stroke Prevention
Aortic Aneurysms
Leg Ulcers & Gangrene
Dialysis access
Varicose veins

If you're a doctor or a heathcare professional looking to fill in gaps in your Vascular knowledge or an update on what you already think you know about Vascular conditions or their treatments, do drop by.







Breakfast provided!

15/01/2026

ABDOMINAL AORTIC ANEURYSMS (AAAs) NEED TO BE FIXED WHEN THEY REACH 5.5 CM. OTHERWISE THERE IS A RISK OF LIFE-THREATENING RUPTURE.

OPEN SURGERY & ENDOVASCULAR ANEURYSM REPAIR (EVAR) ARE 2 METHODS OF AAA REPAIR.

Open repair is the established gold standard. A polyester graft is stitched into your aorta to replace the aneurysmal/diseased segment of aorta. However, it involves a big cut in your abdomen & has a higher 30-day mortality of 4.7% compared to EVAR (1.7%).





EVAR is the minimally-invasive new kid on the block. An aortic stent graft is inserted via 6 mm punctures in your groin into the AAA sac to 're-line' it & exclude the aneurysm sac from the circulation.

However, EVAR is not as durable as open repair, particularly if there is a hostile AAA neck. This is the segment of aorta below kidney arteries.

Ideally the AAA neck should be parallel, straight & longer than 15 mm to ensure a good seal between the aortic wall & stent-graft.

Hostile AAA necks are :

1. Angulated
2. Short
3. Conical
4. Have clots/calcium within them

EVAR is a good option for frailer, elderly patients.

SO HOW DO WE ENSURE YOUR EVAR AORTIC ANEURYSM REPAIR LASTS A LIFETIME?

Although there are no absolute guarantees in Surgery, there are strategies that we use to ensure your EVAR does not leak, migrate & kink.

These are :

1. Ensuring the Endovascular Surgeon & his team are trained, skilled & experienced in measuring & planning your EVAR. Having fellowships in 2 European professorial Vascular units has helped me tremendously.

2. Using state-of-the-art computer software to measure your EVAR precisely.

3. Primary fixation of the neck using Endo-anchors

The latter is a strategy we used to reduce the risk of graft migration & endoleaks in the future.

This elderly patient had a shortish, conical neck. He wanted to avoid an open repair & prolonged wait for a FEVAR.

So, we used Heli-FX Endo-Anchors, which essentially screwed alloy anchors from the EVAR graft onto the wall of the aortic neck for maximum security.

The post-procedure angiograms showed complete AAA exclusion with no leaks.

The patient was home in 3 days.

07/01/2026

My unstoppable, fearless, beautiful mother, Wong Yet Meng, passed away one year ago yesterday.

She would have been 82 today.

It's been such a tough couple of days that I almost missed the chance to stop to remember her & what she represented.

She taught me nothing is impossible.

She taught me to try to leave the world a better place.

The last picture was my first day as a Vascular Specialist Registrar & my last picture taken alone with her.

Thank you again, Mummy for all your gifts...

You are still with us...

28/12/2025

CHRISTMAS IN PENANG ...

THE IDEAL OF WHAT A DEVELOPED MALAYSIA SHOULD BE...

COSMOPOLITAN, INTEGRATED, GREEN, PROGRESSIVE..

THE OLD & NEW, CULTURES PRESERVED YET LOOKING TO THE FUTURE...

Ancient Chinese temples nestling beneath curvilinear skyscrapers..

Old bus depots re-purposed for music & families..

Arthouse cafes where your child gets to doodle on the table...

Green boulevards where trees are sacred..

Where not every green space or old shoplot is seen as an opportunity for property developers to eviscerate...

Where bus stops & public lighting are powered by solar panels...

Where your Nasi Kandar matters as much as your Char Koay Teow...

Where pre-war bungalows draped in creepers still whisper of cheongsams & monsoon rains...

Where history is given its due & context..

Where, even though it's Christmas and I am a Buddhist, I am proud to be Malaysian...

25/12/2025

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!!

YES! IT'S THAT TIME OF THE YEAR AGAIN!

SILLY SEASON!

TELLING THE PERSON YOU'VE BEEN IN LOVE WITH FOR EIGHT YEARS YOU LOVE THEM!

HAVING CAKE WITH NEIGHBOURS!

RE-READING THE ENTIRE MR MEN SERIES!

STIR-FRIED BRUSSELS SPROUTS!

WATCHING HANS GRUBER FALL!

HUGGING A TREE!

Time to thank all those who worked with you & supported you & stood by you this year...

SO, TO ALL OF YOU OUT THERE, A GAZILLION THANK YOUS!!

AND AS ALWAYS, WORK TOWARDS ANOTHER HAPPY, HEALTHY & PRODUCTIVE NEW YEAR!

22/12/2025

Some joy to the world.. watching the best in the world ... hitting their best shots ever this year...

21/12/2025

EXCITING NEWS FOR THE WEEK : OUR WEBSITE GOES LIVE SOON!!!

TEASER TRAILER : IT'S BEEN LONG IN GESTATION BUT FINALLY HERE!

Here is a taster of our upcoming Vascular practice website which has taken me all of 3 years to conceive, write for & build with my patient & able web design team at Sharkfin Media.

It has taken this long as researching & writing original material (I refused to use ChatGPT) between long hours of building a Major Vascular Service from scratch, operating on patients, personal travails(Mum's passing), being a decent husband & not missing out on the little man's milestones has been tough.

But between Robert the Bruce, Abe Lincoln & Rocky Balboa, we were able to find enough in the tank to power this through. So here we are...

We will still be posting here on the most up-to-date information based on high quality research evidence.

However, our website will present all the most modern information on Vascular conditions and their treatments IN EVEN GREATER DETAIL. The level of detail one is unable to cover on social media.

Plus links to external trusted sources to verify the information such as the European Society of Vascular Surgery, National Institute of Care Excellence(NICE) UK & the Circulation Foundation UK.

This is all to provide you, the members of the public, with a source of trusted information on Vascular conditions & treatment from a practice founded on solid integrity & excellent outcomes.

20/12/2025

EXCITING UPCOMING PODCAST PROJECT, 'DECODING WITH DOCTORS' WITH MS HANNAH ANG!

Delighted to announce an exciting collaboration with Ms Hannah Ang to produce a series of podcasts on Vascular Surgery, Vascular conditions & how we treat them.

Areas we aim to cover will include :

What is Vascular Surgery?
Are Varicose Veins bad for your skin?
How can Carotid Surgery prevent a major stroke?
Why Screening for Aortic Aneuryms makes sense & saves lives?
What to do if you have a Leg Ulcer?
How do Vascular Surgeons save lives & limbs?
How can we live longer, healthier, more productive lives?

Hannah is a former international school principal & currently a top-flight Allianz insurance manager. Like me, she is a keen public health educator.

With so much health misinformation on social media & the Internet, we both feel it is important to put out high-quality, evidence-based information on health matters to the public.

This way, they can make well-informed choices about their Vascular health.

So am thrilled to announce that I will be doing a series of podcast interviews with Hannah in the coming months.







Watch this space!

14/12/2025

GOOD TO HAVE A FAMILY FRIEND, SIMON TAN & HIS WIFE, EMILY NGOK OVER FOR VASCULAR SCREENING CONSULTATIONS INCLUDING CAROTID ULTRASOUND SCANS AT MY CLINIC LAST WEEK.

Was very happy to give them the all clear & lifestyle advice for even greater Vascular health..

Simon & Emily are both top-flight Prudential insurance agents & was delighted give them a tour of our new facilities including newly refurbished clinics, Surgical wards & tell them about our Hybrid Operating Theatre, one of 3 in the entire Klang Valley & greater KL.

It was a sign of how healthy collaboration & exchange of ideas between healthcare and insurance professionals can enhance care for our patients.






More importantly to tell them about our major successes for the Major Vascular Surgery service which I set up at SKSMC including limb-saving hybrid bypasses, aortic aneurysm intervention, varicose veins treatment, carotid surgery for stroke prevention & renal dialysis access interventions.












Good to show that we can punch above our weight compared to the big hitters in providing an excellent Vascular service!

10/12/2025

He needs to come back...

07/12/2025

FULL LENGTH JOURNALISTIC ARTICLE IN THE SUNDAY STAR ON CAROTID SURGERY IN STROKE PREVENTION TODAY.




THIS REPORTED ON OUR HIGH RISK, COMPLEX CASE OF CAROTID ENDARTERECTOMY WHICH PREVENTED A MAJOR STROKE IN OUR PATIENT FROM INDONESIA, MR EDDY GIANTONO.

Mr Giantono was referred from a major private hospital in Penang with symptoms of a TIA(Transient Ischaemic Attack) or mini-stroke.







He had developed episodes of facial drooping & arm weakness on one side, classic signs of a mini-stroke or TIA.

These lasted several minutes to an hour.

His CTA of his carotid arteries & brain showed a tight narrowing of his carotid arteries in the neck.

This was the source of clots travelling to his brain, putting him at risk of a major stroke or death.

Major international research shows that carotid endarterectomy (not stents) is the first line treatment for symptomatic patients with critical carotid stenosis(>50%)





Factors that made his operation high risk & technically challenging :

1. Previous cardiac bypass surgery with heart failure
2. Blocked brain arteries which reduced backup flow
3. High & rotated position of his carotid arteries, making dissection challenging.







Despite these challenges, with my Complex Vascular Surgical team including NeuroVascular Anaesthetist, Dr Sham Kumar, we were able to achieve an excellent result with Mr Giantono.

He left hospital well in 3 days. The most satisfying aspect was seeing pictures of Mr Giantono walking his daughter, Anastasya down the aisle at her wedding!

If you are concerned about carotid stenosis or have had a recent mini-stroke or stroke with good recovery, do come & see us at Sri Kota, Dr Yow, Consultant Vascular & Endovascular Surgeon, Tel : 0060 14 3302368.

For a full read, do get a copy of The Sunday Star today or go online : https://www.thestar.com.my/