STAT+: To prevent amputation in patients with severe vascular disease, a device turns veins into arteries
The FDA approved a new surgical device for patients with severe vascular disease and no other treatment options. Will it save legs?
An innocuous slip while cutting her toenails created a wound on Cynthia Elford’s right foot that wouldn’t heal.
The Hermitage, Pennsylvania resident has vasculitis, a genetic disease that inflames the blood vessels and stops blood from flowing to the legs. She had already lost her left leg below the knee after a sunburn on the tip of her toe got progressively worse. She was determined to keep her right one.
“I didn’t want my leg off because I don’t know that I would have been able, emotionally, to get through it,” Elford said.
What's Your Reaction?
