[Health related quality of life in patients with peripheral arteries and veins pathology].

In the last years we can observe a great progress of medical technologies. Every year a new diagnostic and therapeutic methods are developed. Quite often the outcomes of the treatment with those technologies are very similar. Typical methods of evaluation, like time of survival or results of laboratory tests are not enough to make a proper choice between available technologies. From the other hand medical professionals try to respect patients' preferences and needs in the treatment process. For these reasons health related quality of life measurements are widely used in clinical practice and medical trials, comparing different medical techniques. THE AIM OF THE STUDY was to review methods and results of the health related quality of life assessment, in patients with peripheral vascular pathology diagnosed. The authors reviewed available bibliography on quality of life measurement tools, used in patients with peripheral vascular pathology. Those instruments and the results of the studies, performed with them have been described. Health related quality of life measurements are a valuable, additional method of treatment outcomes evaluation in patients with peripheral vascular pathology. They often help to estimate the influence of the treatment on patients' life, in its physical emotional and social aspects. In the few last years the quality of life assessment has been included into the protocols of few randomized international clinical trials, what proves wide acceptance of such studies.