RT Book, Section A1 Scanlon, James M. A1 Macsata, Robyn A. A1 Neville, Richard F. A1 Sidawy, Anton N. A2 Dieter, Robert S. A2 Dieter, Raymond A. A2 Dieter, Raymond A. SR Print(0) ID 1127169221 T1 Diabetic Peripheral Arterial Disease T2 Peripheral Arterial Disease YR 2009 FD 2009 PB McGraw-Hill Education PP New York, NY SN 9780071481793 LK accesscardiology.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1127169221 RD 2024/03/28 AB Diabetes mellitus is among the leading causes of mortality and major morbidity in the United States. It continues to plague society with an additional 800 000 new cases diagnosed each year.1 Consequently, the cost of treating the associated complications such as cardiovascular death, end-stage renal failure, and major amputations has created a growing economic burden on U.S. health care systems. Fifty percent of diabetics will be affected by a manifestation of diabetic foot (neuropathy, ischemia, or infection) and 15% of diabetics will experience a foot ulcer in their lifetime.2,3 Diabetic foot problems are among the leading causes of hospitalization for diabetics; the cost of caring for diabetic foot ulcers is estimated as high as $13 billion annually, a figure that is approximately 27% of the total cost of diabetes care.4 Its seriousness cannot be overstated; 20% of those affected with a foot ulcer will progress to an amputation, a lower extremity amputation rate of 4.1 per 1000 diabetics per year.1,5 This confers an amputation relative risk 40 times greater for diabetics and a reamputation rate of more than 60% at 5 years.3,6