OU -TU SCHOOL OF COMMUNIT Y MEDICINE TULSA
The vascular surgery team on the Tulsa campus, including Kelly Kempe, M.D., is increasing their efforts to decrease major amputations in Oklahoma.
Tulsa Launches Limb Preservation Clinic and Study to Decrease Amputations An OU Health vascular surgery team and a podiatrist in Tulsa have launched efforts to reduce the number of major amputations due to complications from diabetes and peripheral artery disease. Oklahomans experience high rates of diabetes and peripheral artery disease, which are the primary non-traumatic contributors to leg amputation, said Kelly Kempe, M.D., whose work as a vascular surgeon is to help patients achieve the blood flow necessary to avoid an amputation. Kempe, her vascular surgery partners and her new colleague, podiatrist Todd Hasenstein, DPM, are beginning a Limb Preservation Clinic in Tulsa. In addition, Kempe is collaborating with primary care physicians across Oklahoma to monitor patients who are at risk for amputation.
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“Throughout the mid-South and South, there is a disproportionately high rate of major amputations,” Kempe said. “Too many people come to me with non-salvageable limbs, which means they have end-stage disease and there’s nothing I can do to help them avoid an amputation. But it doesn’t have to be this way. There is a lot we can do to screen and monitor patients who are at high risk for an amputation.” Both diabetes and peripheral artery disease, by themselves or in combination, can lead to amputation. With diabetes, people can lose sensation in their feet, which puts them at risk for open wounds they don’t know they have, Kempe said. People without sensation in their feet also get calluses and pressure points that can turn into open wounds, allowing bacteria to enter and cause infection.
[ Fa l l / Wi n t e r 2 0 2 0 ]
