[Can vascular surgery reduce the amputation frequency? A study of amputations in the county of Viborg before and after establishment of an own department of vascular surgery].

In June 1988 a Department of Vascular Surgery was established in the County of Viborg, Denmark. In a retrospective study, 314 patients had 337 major amputations within two time periods: 1986-1987, and 1989-1990. The number of patients seen by a vascular surgeon rose significantly from 19% in the first period to 49% in the last period, and the number of amputations was concurrently significantly reduced by 25%. The largest reduction was observed in 1990, probably due to an increase of vascular reconstructions of 43%. Assuming there is a latency between diagnosing "critical leg ischaemia" and amputation, this will further delay the already convincing results showing that vascular surgery does reduce the frequency of amputations. All patients with suspected critical leg ischaemia or threatened by amputation must be seen, or at least conferred with a vascular surgeon.