Surgery Archives - ACI MedicalACI Medical

September is National PAD Awareness Month

PAD stands for peripheral arterial disease. According to the US Department of Health & Human Services, PAD affects 8 to 12 million Americans. The severity of this disease’s symptoms can range from intermittent claudication (trouble walking long distances due to discomfort in the calf, thigh or hip) to gangrene and tissue death due to the utter lack of circulation in the foot.

All of us medically-conscious folks know how heart attacks are caused – if we eat too many hamburgers, spend a few too many hours lounging around, have picked up the habit of smoking, or are just genetically unfortunate, our arteries begin to harden (atherosclerosis) and plaque builds up over time, blocking important circulation from getting to the heart.

The same thing happens in our legs for the same reasons! Our PAD Category refers to a wealth of online articles about this disease that affects not only Americans, but millions of people around the world. One that I found highly informative, especially if you’re just learning about PAD, is this one published in The Times of India.

Working for a company whose medical devices come to the aid of patients suffering from severe PAD has given me both knowledge and hope for those who have run out of reliable treatment options.

For National PAD Awareness, I encourage you to educate yourself on what causes PAD, what treatments are typically prescribed, and where to look when even surgical intervention is not possible.

Since 1998, ArtAssist®…the Arterial Assist Device has helped many patients avoid PAD-related amputation. Read about what a few of them have to say.

Sep 3, 2012 By acimedical ArtAssist®...The Arterial Assist Device®, PAD

The Gift of Limb Salvage: Claire’s Experience with the ArtAssist® Device

“Try it! What do you have to lose except your leg! It’s worth it and there’s absolutely no pain!” – Claire T., Tucson, AZ

ArtAssist®…The Arterial Assist Device®

As I may have mentioned before, knowing that our product changed someone’s life for the better makes all of our work WORTH IT. Claire’s life as she knew it was about to take a turn for the worse, so when her doctors recommended she try the ArtAssist® Arterial Assist Device®, she jumped at the chance.

Claire and her daughter co-wrote our staff a wonderful letter, chronicling her entire experience:

Dear Don and Sylvia,
I am helping to write this letter with my mom (Claire T. / Tucson, Arizona) to give you a little documentation how the ArtAssistDevice has helped to save her leg. Here is the time sequence:

My mom had a cadaver artery put in her right leg in order to possibly save her leg. (Advanced PAD disease). This was in March of 2011.

In early August, the cadaver artery stopped working because the smaller arteries in my mom’s feet became too narrow. No more surgery could be done. She goes on Vicodin for the pain.

Later part of August 2011, Dr. Luis L mentioned that if he could get the device, would she be willing to try it in order to save her leg. She said “YES!”

Device arrives on September 6, 2011 and she immediately uses it for 1 hour /3 times a day / 7 days a week. A lot of pain in her right leg. She is sleeping very little because of pain by the end of the second week, there is remarkable improvement. She can walk without pain in her leg for short distances and sleeps for about 4 hours before the pain returns. By the first part of October, she starts to use the device for 4 times a day. We travel to Phoenix for her grandson’s wedding and she is able to attend! Pain in the leg has diminished quite a bit but there is still tingling in the foot and toes.

By December, she gets off of pain pills and only takes Tylenol.

By the first part of January, the tingling in her toes is gone. She drops the times using the device to 3 times a day.

By February, she is walking for about ½ mile every day for about 20 minutes.

In March, the Doppler from Dr. Michael L shows her blood flow in that leg has increased quite a bit. She cuts back on the number of times per day to 1 or 2.

In late March, she develops a small but deep ulcer on her toe on her right foot. It becomes infected. (Sorry No Pictures. It was too small to show up on my camera) Dr. L is concerned that he might have to amputate it. He tells her to use the machine. She goes back to using it 1 hour 3 times per day. The toe within 2 weeks has improved dramatically so amputation is not discussed any more.

In mid June, she has another Doppler. It shows more collaterals being made and something was said that an artery that was previously blocked is no longer and he could use it in a bypass if he had to! The ulcer still has a scab but no longer hurts her.

She is currently using the machine for 1 hour/ 3 times per day. She is able to walk ½ mile daily with minimal pain. The pain comes in her calf but only lasts for 1 or 2 minutes and then she starts walking again.

If it wasn’t for your machine, the doctors have said she would have lost her leg. We believe this. We have seen it. It is a wonderful gift.

Thank you also for the wonderful customer service. You were always such a big help.

Sincerely,
Claire T.
Evelyn F.

Big thanks to Claire and her daughter for sharing their uplifting story with us!

Claire T. has given this information freely and has been made aware of her rights to the content she has provided via written consent.

Jun 27, 2012 By acimedical ArtAssist®...The Arterial Assist Device®

More research into the cost of lower-limb amputation

Recently, while summarizing key studies for a history and literature review that I’m working on, I was reminded that this particular study (the abstract is below) also included comparative costs.

In this case, you will see that although SCBD (in other words, ArtAssist®) therapy doesn’t exactly come cheap, it’s still less than half the average cost of a primary amputation.

Want to hear even better news? This study yielded an 88% limb salvage rate, even after 18 months. Fancy that.

Edit: A 3-month rental of the ArtAssist® device in the United States is more than 36 times less expensive than the cost of primary amputation per patient, according to the following study. And even if you take the SCBD patient cost (below), it still sounds like a better deal to me.

Nonoperative Active Management of Critical Limb Ischemia: Initial Experience Using a Sequential Compression Biomechanical Device for Limb Salvage

Sherif Sultan; Olubunmi Esan; Anne Fahy

Department of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, Western Vascular Institute, University College Hospital Galway, Galway, Ireland

Vascular 2008;163:130-139

Critical limb ischemia CLI patients are at high risk of primary amputation. Using a sequential compression biomechanical device SCBD represents a nonoperative option in threatened limbs. We aimed to determine the outcome of using SCBD in amputation-bound nonreconstructable CLI patients regarding limb salvage and 90-day mortality.

Thirty-five patients with 39 critically ischemic limbs rest pain = 12, tissue loss = 27 presented over 24 months. Thirty patients had nonreconstructable arterial outflow vessels, and five were inoperable owing to severe comorbidity scores. All were Rutherford classification 4 or 5 with multilevel disease. All underwent a 12-week treatment protocol and received the best medical treatment.

The mean follow-up was 10 months SD ± 6 months. There were four amputations, with an 18-month cumulative limb salvage rate of 88% standard error [SE] ± 7.62%. Ninety-day mortality was zero. Mean toe pressures increased from 38.2 to 67 mmHg SD ± 33.7, 95% confidence interval [CI] 55 – 79. Popliteal artery flow velocity increased from 45 to 47.9 cm/s 95% CI 35.9 – 59.7. Cumulative survival at 12 months was 81.2% SE ± 11.1 for SCBD, compared with 69.2% in the control group SE ± 12.8% p = .4, hazards ratio = 0.58, 95% CI 0.15 – 2.32. The mean total cost of primary amputation per patient is €29,815 ($44,000) in comparison with €13,9000 ($20,515) for SCBD patients.

SCBD enhances limb salvage and reduces length of hospital stay, nonoperatively, in patients with nonreconstructable vessels.

via ACI Medical – ArtAssist® Device.

Mar 14, 2012 By acimedical ACI Medical, Health