The term critical limb ischemia refers to a condition characterized by chronic ischemic at-rest pain, ulcers, or gangrene in one or both legs attributable to objectively proven arterial occlusive disease. Critical limb ischemia implies chronicity and is to be distinguished from acute limb ischemia. Its incidence is approximately 500 to 1000 per million year, with the highest rates among older subjects, smokers and diabetics. The rate of primary amputation ranges from 10% to 40%, and was performed only when no graftable distal vessels were present, or in neurologically impaired or hopelessly nonambulatory patients. Contrarily, in some highly specialized and aggressive centres about 90% of patients with CLI had an attempted revascularization. Furthermore, patients with critical limb ischemia have an elevated risk of future myocardial infarction, stroke and vascular death, 3-fold higher than patients with intermittent claudication. Therefore, due to its negative impact on the quality of life and the poor prognosis both in terms of limb salvage and survival, critical limb ischemia is a critical public health issue.
Abstract:It is well established that physically fit individuals have a reduced risk of developing CVD (cardiovascular disease) and other age-related chronic disorders. Regular exercise is an established therapeutic intervention with an enormous range of benefits. Chronic low-grade systemic inflammation may be involved in atherosclerosis, diabetes and in pathogenesis of several chronic pathological conditions; recent findings confirm that physical activity induces an increase in the systemic levels of a number of cytokines and chemokines with anti-inflammatory properties. The possibility that regular physical exercise exerts anti-inflammation activity, being the interaction between contracting muscle and the other tissues and the circulating cells mediated through signals transmitted by "myokines" produced with muscle contractions. To date the list of myokines includes IL-6, IL-8, and IL-15. During muscle contractions are also released IL1receptor antagonis and sTNF-R, molecules that contribute to provide anti-inflammatory actions.Nevertheless discrepancies, analysis of available researches seem to confirm the efficacy of regular physical training as a nonpharmacological therapy having target chronic low-grade inflammation. Given this, physical exercise could be considerate a useful weapon against local vascular and systemic inflammation in atherosclerosis. Several mechanisms explain the positive effect of chronic exercise, nevertheless, these mechanisms do not fully enlighten all pathways by which exercise can decrease inflammation and endothelial dysfunction, and hence modulate the progression of the underlying disease progress.
This study demonstrates the effectiveness of PGE-1 in reducing the healing time of venous ulcers, suggesting that venous ulcers should also be considered ischemic.
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