Objective: To assess the influence of diabetes mellitus (DM) and end-stage renal failure on hemodialysis (HD) on the healing time of tissue lesions and blood flow to the foot following a paramalleolar bypass in patients with critical limb ischemia (CLI).
Methods: Consecutive patients with CLI and tissue loss (24 limbs) were followed up retrospectively after paramalleolar bypass, and the healing time of tissue lesions, graft patency, limb salvage and survival rates were analyzed. The blood flow to the foot was assessed by skin perfusion pressure (SPP) pre- and postoperatively. The delta SPP was calculated as the difference between the SPP before and after bypass. The patients were divided into 3 groups: diabetic (DM, n = 9); diabetic and end-stage renal failure on hemodialysis (HD, n = 10); or neither (n = 5).
Results: A total of 15 dorsal and 9 plantar artery bypasses were performed. The median follow-up was 7.3 months (range, 1-18 months). No patients required major amputations, and all tissue lesions healed. The mean duration to complete tissue healing of the DM, HD and neither groups was 2.2, 2.5 and 1.2 months, respectively, was and these were not statistically significant. A significant improvement in the delta SPP after paramalleolar bypass was observed in the neither group compared with both the DM and HD groups.
Conclusion: Blood flow to the foot was not sufficiently improved in CLI patients with DM and HD, despite paramalleolar bypass. This may be the cause of the prolonged tissue healing duration of CLI patients with DM and HD. (English Translation of Jpn J Vasc Surg 2012; 21: 91-95).
Keywords: critical limb ischemia; diabetes mellitus; hemodialysis; paramalleolar bypass; skin perfusion pressure.