It is well known from large Medicare and National Inpatient Sample databases that vascular evaluations in patients with critical limb ischemia (CLI) and at risk for amputations remains extremely low. However, this data is largely pulled from the early 2000s with a scarcity in studies from this recent decade. A recent study showed that Medicare patients from 2011 showed that 23% of patients received primary major amputation. In a recent retrospective analysis preformed at this institution, all amputation patients from 2011-2017 were evaluated for vascular work up and long-term mortality. This cohort included 698 patients with 1009 amputated specimens (major and minor). This means that this institution is preforming around 140 amputations per year, which can be considered unacceptably high. Only 50% received any form of vascular study (ankle-brachial index, doppler ultrasound, and computed tomography angiography) within the year prior to amputation. Furthermore, only 30% of patients received an angiogram within the year prior to amputation. In addition, all major amputations received histopathological analysis, which confirmed that 62% the specimens were graded with severe atherosclerosis. Even in this present decade, with the knowledge that CLI patients are not receiving proper evaluation and treatment leading to amputation which is associated with extreme mortality rates and a large economic burden, health care facilities are not improving their care.
Multidisciplinary teams are a recommendation from the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology guidelines for managing peripheral vascular disease. Multidisciplinary team approaches in other cardiovascular diseases, such as structural heart disease, has long been validated. Literature regarding the implementation of "CLI Teams" remains scarce and not widely adopted. However, institutions that have implemented a CLI Team that engages with specialists from multiple disciplines have shown successful decrease in amputation rates and increases in vascular evaluations and revascularization in these patients. The goal for this study is to establish a hospital-based, physician and nurse led, multidisciplinary team to deliver comprehensive care to CLI patients. We believe it is important to document the experience of building a CLI Team and care protocols to provide insight and validated data for other programs to implement. The multidisciplinary team will include vascular interventionalists, hospitalists, podiatry, wound care, infectious disease, nephrology, orthopedics, pharmacists, emergency department physicians, mid-level providers, nursing staff, and vascular technologists. The ultimate goal is amputation prevention and wound healing through comprehensive vascular care and data driven patient outcomes.
