Image caption: Using the LimFlow system, blood flow can be rerouted around a blocked artery and channeled into a vein modified to serve as an artery.
St. Luke’s physicians are offering a new minimally invasive procedure that offers hope to persons facing likely amputation of a lower extremity due to a permanently blocked artery, called chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI).
St. Luke’s vascular surgeon Jared Feyko, DO, became the first physician in the region to treat a patient with the LimFlow minimally invasive system to improve the blood supply to a patient’s lower extremity. In the hybrid OR at St. Luke’s Bethlehem Campus, he created a novel blood supply to the patient’s foot using a vein rather than an artery, since the patient’s artery was completely blocked. This saved the patient from a major amputation.
Many persons experiencing a totally blocked blood supply to their leg eventually must undergo major lower extremity amputation. These advanced, limb-threatening plaques commonly form in patients with diabetes or chronic kidney disease, or those who are long-time smokers. CLTI can cause foot pain, prevent wounds from healing and may ultimately require amputation of a limb.
“Normally, arteries supply oxygen and life-sustaining nutrients in blood throughout the body, and veins return blood to the heart and lungs for regeneration,” explained Dr. Feyko. “In patients with CLTI, whose diseased or damaged artery cannot serve as the blood supply to the lower limb, LimFlow technology enables us to adapt a vein so it will serve as an artery.”
LimFlow, approved by the FDA in 2023, comprises balloon catheters, endoscopic instruments and covered stents, which are inserted in veins to become blood channels. Physicians use ultrasound imaging technology for visual guidance during this delicate procedure.
“The LimFlow treatment can benefit select ‘no-option’ patients in whom all other medical and surgical options to correct arterial blockages have been exhausted,” said Dr. Feyko, who has performed this innovative procedure on a total of 14 patients, thus far.
Using the LimFlow system, Dr. Feyko rerouted blood flow around the patient’s totally blocked tibial leg artery in the calf. He then channeled flow it through a tiny puncture from the artery into the adjacent tibial vein, which he had modified to serve as an artery and become the new blood supply to the patient’s foot.
Since undergoing this procedure, the patient has less pain in his lower leg and foot, their chronically infected foot/leg wounds are healing and, most importantly, they have been able to avoid total amputation of the once-in-jeopardy limb.
“This procedure, and subsequent tissue/limb survival, were possible only because we have access to the last-chance LimFlow treatment,” Dr. Feyko continued. He estimates that at least 20-30 patients per year will be able to undergo LimFlow at St. Luke’s, because their tibial artery and vein are adaptable to this new, limb-saving treatment. In addition to Dr. Feyko, St. Luke’s interventional radiologists will perform this unique procedure.
About St. Luke’s
Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network of more than 20,000 employees providing services at 15 campuses and 350+ outpatient sites. With annual net revenue of $4 billion, the Network’s service area includes 11 counties in two states: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. St. Luke’s hospitals operate the largest network of trauma centers in Pennsylvania, with the Bethlehem Campus being home to St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital.
Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke’s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania. In partnership with Temple University, the Network established the Lehigh Valley’s first and only four-year medical school campus. It also operates the nation’s oldest School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 52 fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with more than 500 residents and fellows. In 2022, St. Luke’s, a member of the Children’s Hospital Association, established the Lehigh Valley’s first and only free-standing facility dedicated entirely to kids.
SLUHN is the only Lehigh Valley-based health care system to earn Medicare’s five-star ratings (the highest) for quality, efficiency, and patient satisfaction. St. Luke’s is a Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades Top Hospital and a Newsweek World’s Best Hospital. The Network’s flagship University Hospital has earned the 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital designation from Fortune/PINC AI 10 years in a row, including in 2021 when it was identified as THE #1 TEACHING HOSPITAL IN THE COUNTRY. In 2021, St. Luke’s was also identified as one of the 15 Top Health Systems nationally. Utilizing the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of SLUHN’s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information.
Information provided to TVL by:
Sam Kennedy
