Barry Katzen, Miami, USA, announced the establishment of a new society, the Critical Limb Ischaemia (CLI) Global Society, whose mission is to improve quality of life by preventing amputations and death due to the condition.
He made the announcement at the International Symposium on Endovascular Therapy (ISET; 4–8 February, Hollywood, USA). Katzen is founder and chief medical executive of Miami Cardiac & Vascular Institute, and one of the course directors of ISET.
“We are the only professional membership-based medical society focused on advanced peripheral arterial disease and critical limb ischaemia,” said Katzen, who is also the current president of the new society. Members contribute to the scientific study, research, literature and education of critical limb ischaemia and the society will serve as an alliance and advocacy for the prevention of unnecessary amputation, according to the society’s website.
“In terms of advocacy, there are opportunities to get involved with a strong unified community of physician, healthcare and industry leaders with a focused goal of critical limb ischaemia education. The society has a commitment to raise public, patient and health professional awareness of critical limb ischaemia treatments to prevent unnecessary amputations,” the website notes.
Katzen told Interventional News: “The announcement also focused on the direction of resources towards the creation of a true definition around critical limb ischaemia from a regulatory and payment point of view. In the USA, and most countries, there is no diagnostic code for critical limb ischaemia and a lot of confusion in terminology which leads to limitations on determining actual event rates, outcomes and payment. Early on, we are applying resources to try to resolve this challenge.”
