According to THE SAGE GROUP, Critical Limb Ischemia (CLI) is a Major and Growing Problem

BEAUFORT, SC, May 30, 2019 (BUSINESS WIRE) –At the 15th annual Critical Limb Ischemia Session of the New Cardiovascular Horizons (NCVH) meeting in New Orleans, Mary L. Yost, President of THE SAGE GROUP, spoke on “The Scope of Critical Limb Ischemia (CLI).”

“Between 2.0 and 3.4 million people currently suffer from CLI in the U.S.,” stated Yost. “By 2030 CLI is expected to increase to 4.7 million due to the aging population. However, if the prevalence of diabetes continues to increase at the same pace as the last 20 years, this estimate will be conservative.”

CLI, or ‘end-stage’ peripheral artery disease (PAD), is characterized by rest pain, ulcers and gangrene.

Commenting on disease costs, Yost stated, “CLI is expensive to treat, accounting for the majority of PAD costs. CLI is more costly to treat than less severe disease, which combined with the increasing number of patients treated, has resulted in CLI becoming a major economic burden. These costs are especially significant for taxpayers because Medicare pays 73% of the CLI bill.”

“Costs increase with disease severity,” Yost explained. “Rutherford 6 patients with gangrene cost more to treat than Rutherford 4 and 5 with rest pain and ulcers respectively, which in turn, cost more than intermittent claudication (IC) patients. CLI expenses are driven up by multiple factors including unplanned readmissions and undertreatment of risk factors. Suboptimal medical management increases morbidity and mortality leading to expensive diabetic and cardiovascular hospitalizations.”

“Amazingly, revascularization is underutilized in CLI patients, even versus IC patients,” she declared. Between 25%-33% of CLI patients are treated with primary amputation, which is more expensive than revascularization. Higher hospital costs of major amputation reflect more frequent and expensive complications, in-hospital mortality and revision procedures,” she stated.

“The tragedy is that earlier diagnosis of CLI and appropriate treatment, could save lives and limbs,” concluded Ms. Yost. “This would also save a tremendous amount of money.”

Additional information on NCVH and the agenda can be found at: https://ncvh.org/meetings/

THE SAGE GROUP, a research and consulting company, specializes in peripheral vascular disease in the lower limbs, specifically chronic venous disease (CVD), PAD, CLI, IC, diabetic foot ulcers (DFU) and the costs and consequences of amputation.

Additional information: www.thesagegroup.us.

SOURCE: THE SAGE GROUP

THE SAGE GROUP, Beaufort SC
Mary Yost, (404) 520-6652
yost@thesagegroup.us