TMH Launches New Procedures to Reduce Amputations Caused by Diabetes, Vascular Disease

TMH Is 3rd Hospital in Nation to Successfully Perform LimFlow

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Tuesday, June 11 2024) - Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare (TMH) has announced two new procedures that have the potential to greatly reduce the number of patients who must have an amputation due to diabetes and vascular disease.

TMH is now home to the first Critical Limb Ischemia Program in the Big Bend, offering advanced vascular surgery options for patients at risk of a lower limb amputation. As part of the program, TMH is offering two innovative therapies to prevent lower limb amputations – LimFlow and DETOUR.

TMH was the third hospital in the nation to successfully perform a LimFlow procedure outside of clinical research and trials and is the only hospital in the region offering this innovative, life-changing surgery. 

“There is a great opportunity to potentially reduce the number of amputations occurring in our region,” said Daniel Cavallo, Heart and Vascular Service Line Administrator at TMH. “When you look at Department of Health data, the rate of hospitalizations resulting in an amputation of a lower extremity due to diabetes is much higher in our area than the state average. We also know that mortality greatly increases after lower limb amputation, so it’s vital that we are bringing this advanced level of care to our community.”

According to the Amputee Coalition, there are nearly 2 million people living with limb loss in the United States, with 150,000 people needing lower limb amputation every year. Among those living with limb loss, the main cause is vascular disease, often brought on by diabetes. Leon County and the surrounding counties are overrepresented in those statistics compared to statewide averages.

The percentage of patients (per 100,000 population) hospitalized with or from diabetes and resulting in a lower extremity amputation in Leon County was 42.4% percent in 2021, the latest year for which data are available, compared to 37.6% for the state of Florida, according to the Florida Department of Health.

The LimFlow procedure allows doctors to connect an artery in the calf to a vein near the foot and restore blood flow to the feet. TMH first performed the procedure on Nov. 29, 2023, with great success for the patient whose leg was saved. 

“LimFlow is one of the most innovative procedures in interventional cardiology in recent history,” said Andreas Vargas Estrada, MD, TMH Physician Partners – Services by Southern Medical Group. “This state-of-the-art procedure greatly improves patient outcomes while doing so in a far less invasive manner than previous surgeries – or, in some cases, where there were no options short of amputation.”

Daniel Clair, MD, the principal investigator of the PROMISE II U.S. clinical trial assessing LimFlow and a professor and chair of the Department of Vascular Surgery at Vanderbilt University explained in Endovascular Today, “This technique changes the paradigm in a way that nothing else to date has done. Moving forward, this technique will become a part of every vascular specialist’s armamentarium for limb salvage, and facilities aiming to be centers for limb salvage will need to have this option available for their patients.” 

DETOUR, a second new procedure at TMH, is a major advancement for patients with severe peripheral arterial disease, which causes significant blood vessel blockage and hardening of the arteries in the legs, dangerously restricting blood flow. With DETOUR, surgeons can avoid traditional open-leg surgery by creating a bypass of the artery blockage without open incisions. Patients benefit from an immediate recovery and can go home the same day as the procedure, rather than recovering in the hospital for up to four days.

“Our primary goals are to relieve symptoms and prevent amputations,” said William Dixon, MD, TMH Physician Partners – Services by Southern Medical Group. “Rural areas tend to have higher rates of diabetes and amputation, and our service region is very much rural. We’re excited to offer this life-changing care to patients across the Big Bend and to be able to change the healthcare landscape in this way.”

To learn more about the advanced heart and vascular care available at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, please visit TMH.ORG/Heart.