Franz D, et al. - In this retrospective study, the researchers evaluated rates of lower extremity amputation among patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) who receive dialysis during a recent 15-year period and examined whether those rates differed by age, sex, diabetes, or geographic region, as well as determined 1-year mortality rates in this population after lower extremity amputation. They involved adult patients with prevalent ESRD treated with hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis covered by Medicare Part A and B on January 1 of each cohort year. From 2000 to 2014, the rates of lower extremity amputations for patients with ESRD who receive dialysis decreased by 51.0%. It was noted that patients with diabetes had amputation rates more than 5 times as high as patients without diabetes. Amputation rates remained markedly higher than rates reported in the general Medicare population. Data reported that nearly half of all patients with ESRD who had undergone lower extremity amputation died within the first year after the procedure.