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VIDEO: Expert calls critical limb ischemia a ‘national crisis’
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LAS VEGAS — Critical limb ischemia is a “national crisis,” according to Kenneth Rosenfield, MD, section head of vascular medicine and intervention at Massachusetts General Hospital and Cardiology Today’s Intervention Editorial Board member.
In this video, Rosenfield notes that despite increased awareness of CLI, amputations have not decreased and the methods by which patients with CLI are treated vary widely across the United States.
Some hospitals treat all their patients with CLI with surgery, while some treat them all with an endovascular approach, “which really underscores how little we know about the best alternatives for treating patients,” Rosenfield said.
To that end, he said, there was a full-day session on CLI at VIVA 15, and the NIH-funded BEST-CLI trial, of which Rosenfield is co-principal investigator, is expected to generate evidence as to which patients are best suited for each treatment approach.
“I don’t think it will answer all questions, but it certainly will increase our knowledge base about CLI, which is right now kind of a vacuum,” he said.