Commentary: infrapopliteal angioplasty with drug-eluting stents: from heart to toe.

摘要

Critical limb ischemia (CLI) represents one of the most challenging and costly cardiovascular healthcare problems in the world.1'2 It is estimated that almost 1% of all people older than 50 years of age present with symptoms of CLI, accounting for 1.5 million patients in Europe and ~2 million patients in the United States.1'2 Diabetes mellitus is well known to multiply the risk of CLI by a factor of 4, and diabetic patients with CLI are as much as 10 times more vulnerable to amputation than normoglycemic patients. Notably, almost half of all amputees suffer from diabetes.2 Deficiencies in >100 physiological factors implicated in the cascades of angiogenesis, tissue regeneration, and normal wound healing have been identified in the diabetic ischemic foot.