When Do Vascular Surgeons Have to Amputate a Limb? What Can Be Done Before This Outcome? — Dr. Ross Milner and Dr. Kha Tran

When does a limb have to be amputated? This is the question Dr. Ross Milner and Dr. Kha Tran — 2 vascular surgeons who operate to restore blood flow in the body — consider. When a patient’s arteries have narrowed and improper blood flow emerges, that patient may be diagnosed with peripheral arterial disease. In this episode, you’ll hear about different ways to treat this disease, what can be done before a limb amputation has to occur, and why it's so important to understand the lived circumstances of a patient who has peripheral arterial disease.

Dr. Ross Milner is a Professor of Surgery and the Director of the Center for Aortic Diseases at UChicago Medicine. He is  an internationally recognized expert in vascular surgery, a dedicated educator and mentor, and a prolific author, having written more than 100 abstracts and manuscripts, as well as more than 20 reviews and chapters in leading textbooks on endovascular therapies. 

Dr. Kha Tran is a fourth year surgical resident at UChicago Surgery and a fellow of the Maclean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics. In his former life, he was an Olympic-level athlete.

“Deep Cuts: Exploring Equity in Surgery” comes to you from the Department of Surgery at UChicago Medicine. Our host is Dr. Jen Vigneswaran. Our senior producer is Tony Liu. Our podcast cover art comes to you from Pombie Silverman, episode art from Sam Higgins, and music from Sen Morimoto off of Sooper Records. 

A special thanks this week to the Department of Surgery’s Sophia Chung and Jan Spicer.

Find more about our work at surgery.uchicago.edu