Descrizione

The incidence of critical limb ischemia (CLI) and diabetic foot (DF) has progressively increased and currently represents one of the major features of generalized arterial atherosclerotic disease, considering that every year more than one million of people suffer a lower limb amputation. The aims of CLI treatment are pain relief, ulcer healing, infection treatment and, obviously, limb salvage. A patient affected by CLI and DF needs a multidisliplinary approach, using all available tools from medical, surgical and endovascular therapy. Nowadays medical treatment of CLI involves anti-platelet drugs, defibrinating agents, vasoactive substances, prostanoids, etc. Distal bypass surgery with autogenous vein remains the therapy of choice, nevertheless, CLI treatment has undergone a gradual shift over the last years to incorporate a greater portion of endovascular treatment. Not only does this include patients who now have endovascular therapy rather than surgery, but also patients who in the past would have been offered supportive treatment only, due to factors such as being medically unfit for surgery, lacking sufficient donor vein for bypass grafting. New developments in basic research, technologies and techniques offered everyday new solutions in CLI and DF treatment.

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