Peripheral arterial disease (PAD), the narrowing or blockage of the vessels carrying blood from the heart to the legs, can have detrimental effects on lower limb health, and can lead to critical limb ischemia, limb loss, and even death. Patients with poor arterial health can develop hard-to-heal ulcers as the blood pools in the lower extremity, causing localized swelling and ulceration.
Transcutaneous monitors that measure tissue oxygen can assist with determining the health of the limb and the ability for a lower extremity wound to heal, and can detect the presence of vascular disease. Understanding these values is vital as it will help the provider to guide clinical decisions in in the plan of care, whether it involve curative measures such as compression therapy or advanced wound care interventions such as negative pressure wound therapy or skin grafts, or palliative or amputation, depending on the patient’s goals. Transcutaneous oxygen measurement can be used to determine amputation level in non-healable wounds … register