Growing Rates of Diabetic Amputations: Response to San Antonio Express-News Article
In last Sunday’s San Antonio Express-News publication, an article written by Melissa Fletcher-Stoeltje, “Losing Part of Self” highlighted the importance of addressing the diabetes epidemic in San Antonio. Dr. Macris, a senior vascular surgeon at PVA, responds to this article and the need for more awareness regarding this issue.
You can read the online version of Melissa Fletcher-Stoeltje’s expansive article about the high rate of diabetic amputations in San Antonio and the quest to save limbs on the San Antonio Express-News website.
“Thank you for featuring the article written by Melissa Fletcher-Stoeltje “Losing Part of Self” this past Sunday. As vascular surgeons, my partners and I encounter hundreds of patients who struggle with diabetes daily. We experience, first-hand, the effects of this devastating epidemic throughout Texas. From losing circulation in their lower extremities, to losing eyesight, and to needing dialysis treatments weekly, diabetics and their families often endure a difficult journey.
For over 42 years, we at Peripheral Vascular Associates- along with so many other medical professionals in San Antonio- have sought to be part of the solution to preventing vascular disease, starting with proper diagnosing and improving poor circulation issues. To completely prevent amputations and take the actions necessary to create real change, the entire population needs to be educated regarding diabetes and circulation complications.
You can read the online version of Melissa Fletcher-Stoeltje’s article”Losing Part of Self” on the San Antonio Express-News website.
We have partnered with community organizations such as the YMCA, Diabetes Collaborative, American Diabetes Association, The Prosthetics Foundation and others to educate patients and the community on the causes and effects of diabetes and how prevention is the best solution. Seeing a physician who is well versed in the symptoms of diabetes, and who can accurately and appropriately diagnose and guide a patient, is of paramount importance and can be the crucial factor in avoiding the vascular complications of limb loss, stroke, heart attack, Renal failure or aneurysm rupture.
By giving diabetes the visibility it needs, as Melissa Fletcher-Stoeltje did with this extensive article, we are taking the necessary steps to prevent diabetes and shift towards a healthier population. In the meantime, the vascular surgeons at Peripheral Vascular Associates are here to provide complete, comprehensive care. We are dedicated to restoring essential circulation to patient’s limbs and to actively prevent limb amputations that are so easily caused by vascular diseases and a lack of earlier intervention.”
Dr. Demetrios Macris
Peripheral Vascular Associates
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