Podiatry network, medical device company partner to prevent amputations

Preventive Foot Care Centers of America, a podiatry care network managed by the Lower Extremity Amputation Prevention Alliance, is teaming up with Koven Technology, a medical device company, to help prevent amputations caused by peripheral vascular disease.

Koven will fund the Lower Extremity Amputation Prevention Alliance (LEAP)’s public and health care provider education programs through sales of its SmartDop Doppler ultrasound device and software, according to a press release. SmartDop is used to screen and diagnose peripheral vascular disease.

The program will reach out to primary care physicians who treat those at risk of lower-limb amputation but do not have time or are not trained to provide comprehensive foot examinations.

Certified volunteers from the Lions Clubs in Las Vegas have partnered with LEAP to make examinations free, and to provide additional public health-improvement programs, according to the release.

“Over 80% of diabetic leg amputations due to peripheral artery disease can be prevented with early diagnosis and prompt treatment,” Lawrence Rubin, DPM, LEAP’s podiatrist director, said in the release. “The word ‘alliance’ in the name LEAP Alliance points out how different persons and groups … are working together to save limbs.”

Reference: www.leapalliance.org.

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