Lower Extremity Endovascular Intervention

Our vision is to be the pre-eminent center for functional lower extremity care and foot salvage. Lower extremity wounds are common and often progress to infection in the surrounding tissue, and subsequent foot and leg amputation. Patients with diabetes mellitus are especially prone to leg ulcers. The mechanisms underlying the foot disease are multi-factorial and include inadequate blood supply, loss of protective sensation, infection and abnormal foot structure and biomechanics. The management of the diabetic foot is a complex clinical problem, which requires multidisciplinary inputs.

The Yale-New Haven Heart and Vascular Center provides evidence-based multidisciplinary treatment to preserve limb function and prevent foot and leg amputations. When a patient’s leg is threatened with a major amputation as a result of severe vascular disease, the decision-making can be complex and the treatment equally as involved. Our main goals are to diagnose and treat foot wounds appropriately allowing for limb preservation, return to function and prevention of recurrence. We provide careful assessment and management of vascular disease by vascular surgeons and interventionalists, biomechanical abnormalities by podiatrists,wound coverage by plastic surgeons, and aggressive treatment of infections and metabolic derangements. This multidisciplinary approach significantly increases the chances of successfully healing the ulcer and prevents recurrence.