The Impact of Chronic Limb-Threatening Ischemia on Cardiac Surgery

The effect of chronic limb threatening ischemia (CLTI) on advanced cardiac disease, which requires surgical treatment, has rarely been reported. The purpose of this study was to review the outcomes of cardiac surgery in patients with CLTI and determine the risk factors, with a particular focus on the severity of CLTI. The baseline characteristics and outcomes of 33 patients who were treated for CLTI and underwent cardiac surgery were retrospectively analyzed. The states of CLTI were evaluated based on the Wound, Ischemia, and foot Infection (WIfI) classification system, and 33 patients were divided into the low-WIfI group (stages 1-2, = 13) and high-WIfI group (stages 3-4, = 20). The in-hospital mortality rate was 0% in low-WIfI group and 35% in high-WIfI group ( = 0.027). Postoperative complications, particularly severe infections, occurred more frequently among high-WIfI group than low-WIfI group (70.0% vs. 23.1%,