A study examined mobility rates achieved by prosthesis users who were treated under a physician-led collaborative care pathway. The data analysis suggested that patients treated via this care pathway can potentially achieve improved mobility rates with a prosthesis following amputation.
The study also described the structure and utilization of the care pathway used by multiple independent vascular surgery practices in the United States to enable future exploration of its impact on key clinical outcomes within the patient population.
The researchers retrospectively reviewed clinical records of 2,475 patients with chronic limb-threatening ischemia and/or diabetes who required major lower-limb amputations. The records came from six vascular practices that adopted the collaborative care pathway between 2017 and 2020. Only records with sufficient documented histories of amputation surgeries, prosthetic services, and mobility status were included. Of 2,475 patient records reviewed, 1,787 patients (2,157 major amputations) were eligible for analysis.
More than 62 percent of patients achieved mobility with the collaborative care pathway. Mobility rates varied by amputation level: Prosthetic mobility was achieved in 73.5 percent of transtibial amputations, 40.4 percent of transfemoral amputations, and 35.7 percent of disarticulation amputations, regardless of patient laterality.
The study also described the structure and utilization of the collaborative care pathway for treating patients who require lower-limb amputation that met five of the seven recommendations from the 2019 Global Vascular Guidelines on the Management of Chronic Limb Threatening Ischemia.
The study, “Mobility rates after lower-limb amputation for patients treated with physician-led collaborative care model,” was published in the Annals of Vascular Surgery.
