Innovation in treating peripheral artery disease

In February 2020, HonorHealth Heart Care (formerly HonorHealth Cardiovascular Center of Excellence) made a monumental achievement in the treatment of Peripheral Artery Disease, or PAD. This common cardiovascular disease affects more than 10 million people in the United States.

PAD is the result of the buildup of plaque in the arteries, reducing blood flow to the lower limbs and ultimately leading to extreme leg pain, numbness and eventually gangrene, which requires amputation. In fact, as many as 200,000 people with PAD undergo limb amputations each year, according to the CardioVascular Coalition. If left untreated, PAD can be life threatening.

HonorHealth's Venkatesh Ramaiah, MD, Chief of Complex Vascular Services, became the first doctor in Arizona to perform a percutaneous (skin puncture) bypass procedure on a patient with complete blockage in the femoral artery, kicking off an intensive clinical trial known as DETOUR II. The study could lead to FDA approval for the procedure.

In traditional PAD treatment, patients had to undergo many incisions in the leg and endure long hours on the operating table, leading to slow recovery times and an increased risk of infection and other complications. In the DETOUR II procedure, doctors use stent grafts that travel through the femoral vein, bypassing the diseased portion of the femoral artery and essentially creating a bypass for blood to flow freely again to the patient’s lower limb. This change in approach reduces risk and could lead to better quality-of-life outcomes.

"It's difficult to express how important this study is for Arizona as a whole," said Dr. Ramaiah. "We have performed peripheral percutaneous bypass surgery on an advanced PAD patient without cutting open or making incisions in the leg. Because this procedure is significantly less invasive, it has potentially fewer risks than the traditional procedure.”