ABSTRACT
The treatment of critical limb ischemia (CLI) consumes a significant amount of health care
resources (1). Amputation remains a common procedure and is likely to increase due to
an aging population, increasing recognition of CLI and a recognized trend toward a higher
occurrence of diabetes (2). Patients requiring major amputation face a diminished quality of
life, an unfavorable natural history and require extensive resources for their postamputation
rehabilitation and course (3). Such resources would be better deployed in an aggressive
approach to salvage affected limbs in those suffering from CLI in order to prevent progression
to more serious complications.
