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<\/p>\nEvery year in Ontario, over 1,000 people lose a foot or leg to a vascular disease.<\/p>\n
This year, however, Frank Scianitti was not one of them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200aWe consider it a failure if we have to remove someone\u2019s limb,\u201d vascular surgeon Dr. William Johnson tells INsauga Canada.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Johnson, division head of vascular surgery and a vascular surgeon at William Osler Health System, the health organization that operates hospitals in Brampton and Toronto, told INsauga Canada that his team has worked \u2014 and continues to work \u2014 to save\u00a0every leg and foot it can.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But while Johnson says technology has improved by leaps and bounds in Brampton and beyond, the cross-province statistics still tell a more sombre story. According to a 2024 release from Quinte Health, over 1,200 non-traumatic major lower-limb amputations occur every year in Ontario, and most of them are due to complications of vascular disease, such as peripheral artery disease and diabetes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That said, Johnson says he\u2019s optimistic that advances in vascular care not just at Brampton Civic and Etobicoke General, but in vascular medicine more broadly, are helping prevent amputations.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u201cThis is beneficial for people in our community who might be facing serious problems, might be facing the loss of their limb and a life-altering event,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019ve modernized and revolutionized vascular care for the community in the past, I\u2019d say, five to eight years in particular. I wouldn\u2019t say that there\u2019s anything new or novel about the concept, but what has changed is the technology available.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
In 2018, Brampton Civic announced the opening of its new state-of-the-art endovascular therapeutics suite, a facility that serves as a space for interventional radiology and an operating room. The suite enables Osler\u2019s vascular and endovascular surgeons and radiologists to perform life- and limb-saving procedures in one space, giving patients more seamless access to care.<\/p>\n
Scianitti is recovering\u2013all in one piece\u2013after receiving treatment at Brampton Civic for multiple blood clots in his leg.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Scianitti, a 76-year-old retiree, said he first got an inkling something was wrong in early 2026 when he flew from Arizona to Calgary and, upon exiting a van at his hotel, heard a \u2018pop\u2019 in his left leg.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe checked in and at night, the [discomfort] started getting worse and I thought I pulled a muscle or something,\u201d he tells INsauga Canada.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The discomfort persisted, so that spring, Scianitti booked an appointment with his family doctor.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said, \u2018Frank, this is probably a pulled muscle.\u2019 He said to wait a month or two and then check it out.\u201d <\/p>\n
But as the weeks went on, the pain persisted and his circulation began to decline. In May, he went to a hospital in Orangeville for an ultrasound and was told he was essentially having \u201ca heart attack in his foot.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The doctor referred Scianitti to the vascular team at Brampton Civic for more tests.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d never been so scared in my life,\u201d he says about his initial consultation with Osler vascular surgeon Dr. John Byrne.\u00a0\u201cHe tells you the truth; he doesn\u2019t hide anything. He said, \u2018Frank, you have three blockages.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Scianitti said the doctor told him there were a few treatment options, with amputation as the last resort. The team decided to first try the minimally invasive endovascular revascularization technique that would spare his leg and avoid the higher potential morbidity associated with an open surgery.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEndo means that we do it from within the artery with minimally invasive techniques, punctures, needles, and wires instead of large incisions, and revascularization means to take an artery that\u2019s not presently flowing and leading to impairment in the blood supply to someone\u2019s leg and try to reopen it,\u201d Johnson explains.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s almost like trying to turn Niagara Falls back onto the leg so that the tissues can survive, get the blood supply they need to be able to heal and ultimately salvage the leg.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Johnson, who was not involved in Scianitti\u2019s care, says that technology used to treat blood clots has continued to improve and that, going forward, he expects less invasive procedures, such as the one Scianitti underwent, to become the gold standard.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we continue down the path towards trying to find safer, minimally invasive ways to revascularize a leg, the technology keeps getting better and better. I suspect that at some point in my career, open surgery will no longer be the mainstay for this,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
In his time at the hospital, Johnson says he\u2019s watched the vascular health team rapidly adapt to new techniques and best practices.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we see a patient with this problem, we\u2019re thinking, \u2018What can we do to help them? What can we do to help them in a minimally invasive way? What can we do to help them avoid the major morbidity and mortality associated with bypass surgery?\u2019 So we\u2019re always looking through that lens to see how we can help the patients in the least stressful and least risky way possible.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
While Scianitti was initially terrified of the possible outcome, he says the procedures he underwent were thoroughly explained, carefully carried out and, as of now, effective.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While he experienced some pain and discomfort after being released from the hospital, he says he can comfortably walk and has been told during follow-up appointments that the blood clots are not returning and the procedure worked.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bad news is that I have to be on blood thinners twice a day for the rest of my life,\u201d he says, adding that he\u2019s keeping up with exercise and physiotherapy while not pushing himself too hard.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scianitti is also relieved that the pain and discomfort that plagued him for weeks is gone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMy left leg on the calf side, I couldn\u2019t move it; it felt like pins and needles, and like it was all knotted up,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While it can be difficult to say why one person develops blood clots in their arteries and another does not, Johnson says that peripheral artery disease is largely a disease of an aging population and is most common in patients over 60.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He also says preventing blood clots through healthy habits is paramount. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere are certain risk factors that we know are associated with people developing these conditions, things like diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking history, kidney disease and kidney failure. There\u2019s also family history, and that\u2019s less modifiable. We can\u2019t change our DNA, but we can change some of the things that we do that may make us more at risk for developing those problems,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Johnson says the procedure works, but new blood clots can form, and part of Osler\u2019s treatment plan includes educating patients on what they can do at home to keep their vascular health in check.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For Scianitti, that prevention involves movement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t exercise a lot after I retired. I golfed, but I was in a cart. Now we live by the Apple Watch,\u201d he says, adding that he feels well on the road to recovery.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel great, but I\u2019m not 100 per cent yet. My goal is to be at 100 per cent, right now I\u2019m at 70 to 75 per cent.\u201d<\/p>\n