Limb Salvage and Amputation Prevention Program
University Hospitals Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute offers a Limb Salvage and Amputation Prevention Program, one of just a few such centers in the United States.
The program transforms the standard of care for “no option” critical limb ischemia (CLI) patients at risk of amputation. UH specialists can provide consultations for patients with blood flow blockages in the leg, advanced peripheral artery disease (PAD), foot ulcers or gangrene.
Call to Schedule an Appointment Today
If you or a loved one have been told that amputation is your only treatment option, it is vital that you get a second opinion from our experts. We have the expertise to save limbs with advanced, innovative techniques – even when other treatment options have failed. Call 216-844-3800 to schedule an appointment.
Limb Salvage Advisory Council (LSAC)
University Hospitals has assembled a unique, interdisciplinary team to evaluate alternative treatments for patients scheduled for amputation. Our team is comprised of vascular surgeons, endovascular interventionalists, vascular medicine specialists, podiatrists and wound care experts – often including multiple physicians within the same specialty to ensure that different points of view are considered. This professional collaboration often leads to more potential treatment options to avoid amputation.
Data collected to date shows that up to 75 percent of patients scheduled for a major amputation, still had the limb in question at 180 days after being managed by the LSAC team.
Mehdi Shishehbor, DO, MPH, PhD, President, University Hospitals Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute, explains how UH limb salvage programs are saving lives and limbs. “Don’t accept amputation as an answer,” he says. “Get a second and third opinion.”
Jean’s Story
With one leg previously amputated, Jean came to UH with the same condition – critical limb ischemia (CLI) – in her other leg. Through advanced techniques, her leg was saved.
Limb Salvage and Amputation Prevention Clinical Trials
Experts within UH Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute are national principal investigators for multiple clinical trials aimed at reducing leg amputations, giving our patients unparalleled access to novel therapies to prevent lower extremity limb loss.
Several innovative limb salvage clinical trials are currently underway at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center. Examples include:
- LimFlow Percutaneous Deep Vein Arterialization (pDVA) System
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This breakthrough, first-in-humans clinical trial employs a novel proprietary technique to provide endovascular venous arterialization that cannot be corrected by surgery or other endovascular approaches. The goal is to redirect blood from ischemic arteries into the tibial veins, providing a bypass around the blockage in the artery and resupplying oxygen to the surrounding tissue. Outcomes from the procedure include wound healing, limb salvage and remarkable changes in the vasculature of the foot.
UH Cleveland Medical Center is one of just five centers nationally and the only center in Ohio offering LimFlow to end-stage CLI patients without options.
- Biologic therapy
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An adjunctive therapy to revascularization, bioactive agents are injected into the foot to observe wound healing in a more timely fashion. The biologic stimulates and directs naturally occurring angiogenic factors in the body to the site of injury with the hope that new small blood vessels will grow to improve blood supply to the wound and promote healing.
- “Chocolate” drug-coated balloon catheter
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The “Chocolate Touch” clinical trial evaluates whether this second-generation device is superior to the older Lutonix model. The primary endpoint of the trial is “true drug-coated balloon success,” defined as the patient achieving primary patency without bail-out stenting.
University Hospitals interventional cardiologist, Mehdi Shishehbor, DO, MPH, PhD is leading the international clinical trial on Chocolate Touch.
Learn More - Radial to peripheral (R2P) program
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R2P allows complex procedures in the leg to be performed via the radial approach, widely used for cardiac procedures. The last five to 10 years have shown when patients are treated from the wrist, it is less risky and associated with less bleeding, and that patient satisfaction and quality of the procedure are higher than if done through the groin.
Committed to Educating Providers in Limb Salvage Techniques
Given our commitment to education and public health, Mehdi Shishehbor, DO, MPH, PhD, has trained more than 400 physicians across the United States in advanced techniques for limb salvage. These courses continue to be offered annually.
Limb Salvage and Amputation Prevention Program
If you or a loved one have been told that amputation is your only treatment option, it is vital that you get a second opinion from our experts. We have the expertise to save limbs with advanced, innovative techniques – even when other treatment options have failed.
Call 216-844-3800 to schedule an appointment.