LimFlow procedure hopes to give CLI patients alternative to amputation

By:  Logan Rader
Posted: Aug 06, 2018 12:24 PM MDT
Updated: Aug 06, 2018 12:24 PM MDT
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – The first ever LimFlow procedure in the Western United States, was performed at Heart Hospital of New Mexico at Lovelace Medical Center by New Mexico Heart Institute vascular surgeons, Steven Henao and Richard Wilkerson.
For patients suffering from severe vascular disease or ischemia (an inadequate blood supply to a part of the body), the arterial system may not be delivering blood to a limb due to blockage.
In the leg, this can cause unrelenting pain, a troublesome wound or even gangrene, a condition known as critical limb ischemia or CLI.
These patients may not be candidates for balloons, stents or bypass surgery and, therefore, often have no alternative but to face a leg amputation.
LimFlow is minimally-invasive and designed to bypass the blocked arteries in the leg and rush blood back into the foot, potentially avoiding major amputation, resolving pain and promoting wound healing.
LimFlow is an investigational device/procedure and in the clinical trial stages and Heart Hospital of New Mexico at Lovelace Medical Center is one of only seven hospitals in the country where it is being performed.