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A Growing Focus on Critical Limb Ischemia
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Critical limb ischemia is a major health problem throughout the world. In many respects, CLI has not gotten the same degree of attention that severe coronary ischemia has, although it is no less serious an illness.
The recognition of how prevalent CLI is has grown in recent years. At the same time, endovascular techniques to address this problem have greatly improved. Technical advances have included incorporation of equipment that traditionally had been used in coronary arteries, but now is being adapted for use in below the knee and other peripheral locations. In concert with these improvements in technical approaches, there has also been greater collaboration between noninvasive vascular medicine specialists and proceduralists. This collaboration has included vascular medicine care, noninvasive imaging and expertise in wound healing. Many of the systems of care that have been perfected in ACS management can be applied with adaptation to setting up CLI services.
This is surely an area of growth at many medical centers and has encouraged cross-talk between a variety of different invasive specialists and noninvasive specialists caring for these often complex patients.
In this issue of Cardiology Today’s Intervention, we explore some of the latest advances in CLI and interview several experts for their opinions on where the field currently is and where it is heading. Hopefully you will find these discussions useful in your own practices.
— Deepak L. Bhatt, MD, MPH
Chief Medical Editor
Cardiology Today’s Intervention