The third annual Amputation Prevention Summit will be held on Saturday, March 23, 2019 at Memorial Hermann Greater Heights, 1635 North Loop West, South Tower, First Floor, Houston, Texas, drawing clinicians from Houston and surrounding region. Memorial Hermann is the only health system in the Houston area that is part of the Amputation Prevention Centers of America® network … This CME event aims to highlight the urgent nature of the diabetes epidemic, the prevalence of peripheral arterial disease and diabetic foot ulcers, and how healthcare professionals can change and improve their practice in order to reduce lower extremity amputations … Diabetes is among the top 10 leading causes of death in Texas and the leading cause of non-traumatic lower extremity amputation. The risk of leg amputation for people with diabetes is 15 to 40 times greater than for a person without diabetes. Within two to four years of unilateral limb loss, one-third of all patients lose the other leg. Sadly, only about 50 percent of amputees survive within five years following a leg amputation due to ongoing complications of the chronic disease. With the future incidence of diabetes projected to rise to 550 million people worldwide by the year 2030, limb salvage is becoming a viable alternative, often producing better outcomes than amputation … read more