The use of revascularization reduced amputation rates by 40% over 2 decades in patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD), according to research presented at the Society for Vascular Surgery Annual Meeting in San Francisco.
The study, conducted by researchers at the Mayo Clinic, included 773 residents in the Rochester Epidemiology Project, which is a National Institutes of Health-funded pool of medical records from residents in Olmsted County, Minn. The researchers analyzed trends in the incidence of amputation in patients that underwent a revascularization procedure via endovascular revascularization, open surgery or both.
The participants underwent 1,906 limb revascularization procedures between 1990 and 2009, and 5-year incidence rates demonstrated significant decreases in open surgery, increases in endovascular and hybrid revascularization and a decrease in the rate of amputation over the 20-year period.
“This is an important study because frequently patients who have peripheral arterial disease — and there are about 12 million Americans who have some leg pain that can be connected to it — may progress to amputation. They may develop rest pain, gangrene, and if an intervention is not performed, they may lose the limb,” Peter Gloviczki, MD, a Mayo Clinic vascular surgeon, president of the Society for Vascular Surgery and the lead study author, stated in a news release. “This study shows that the use of endovascular interventions — stents, balloons or other catheter-based interventions — or open surgical bypass effectively reduced the amputation rate.”
