BANGKOK, 31 May 2012 (NNT) – The Siriraj Hospital has for the first time in the world successfully found a new surgical method that could save diabetes patients from having their limbs amputated.

Head of Vascular Surgery Division of the Mahidol University’s Faculty of Medicine at Siriraj Hospital, Dr Pramook Mutirangura has announced that the new method provides blood supply to the ischemic foot through the venous system instead of the arterial system. He said the method allows better blood circulation and so that the doctors do not have to amputate the patient’s foot.

Dr Pramook said Thailand is the first country in the world to successfully perform the method on a patient. The surgical method has been published in the International Society for Vascular Surgery magazine.

He stated that the faculty will teach this method to Thai surgeons across the country so that diabetes, as well as other vascular-related, patients will have a better chance of survival.

Siriraj Hospital has been conducting experiments on this method since 2002 until it is certain that the method is highly safe. The new surgical procedure has so far been performed on forty patients with a very high success rate.

National News Bureau Of Thailand