Indications and Clinical Outcomes for Below Knee Endovascular Therapy: Review Article

Chronic critical limb ischemia (CLI) still represents the most common cause for amputation and frequently the possibility for peripheral revascularization, particularly in below knee (BK) arteries, is not adequately evaluated before amputation. This may also be due to the fact that even today, there's some confusion about results of the endovascular treatment in this territory. Diabetics, representing the population most frequently affected by CLI, have specific clinical characteristics, the so called diabetic foot syndrome, which cannot be compared with the situation in nondiabetic patients with ischemic ulcers. Measuring the success of BK endovascular therapy can be a difficult issue, considering that it is often the work of a multidisciplinary team. The clinical benefit of BK endovascular therapy often shows a large discrepancy from the primary patency. While ulcer heating, limb salvage, and reintervention rates are usually low after BK endovascular therapy, rates of restenosis remain excessively high. Nevertheless, the positive impact of revascularization on mortality, which mainly depends on the major amputation rate reduction, is also evident. This review article summarizes indications and clinical outcomes after BK endovascular therapy with special attention to the role of diabetes mellitus in patients with CLI. (C) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.