Work

A limb is a peninsula and no clinician is an island: Introducing the American Limb Preservation Society (ALPS)

Year: 2021

Type: article

Abstract: According to a well-known proverb: “if you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.” When caring for the at-risk lower limb, going it alone may lead to the express lane to an amputation. Unfortunately, once an amputation is performed the next stop on the express lane is often death; the 5-year mortality is 46.2% following a diabetes-associated minor amputation and 56.6% following a diabetes-associated major amputation.1 In 2014 the Society for Vascular Surgery published the WIfI (Wound, Ischemia, and foot Infection) classification system for staging lower extremities at-risk for amputation2 and a subsequent meta-analysis of WIfI publications confirmed it to be predictive of one-year amputation risk.

Source: Foot & Ankle Surgery Techniques Reports & Cases

DOI: 10.1016/j.fastrc.2021.100005