Effect of anaesthetic technique on mortality following major lower extremity amputation: a propensity score-matched observational study.

We investigated whether the type of anaesthesia affects mortality and length of stay after non-traumatic major lower extremity amputations. A total of 1365 eligible patients who were operated on between 2002 and 2010 were included in the final analysis. Propensity score matching was used to produce 475 matched pairs of patients undergoing operation with either general or regional anaesthesia. We found that 30-day mortality was significantly greater in the general anaesthesia group compared with the regional anaesthesia group, with an odds ratio (95% CI) of 1.5 (1.0-2.3) in the total matched population and 4.2 (1.3-13.4) in a high-risk subgroup. The median (IQR [range]) length of postoperative hospital stay was significantly less in the patients of the high-risk subgroup who had general anaesthesia at 15 (7-21 [1-101]) days compared with 25 days (10-37 [0-78]) for those who had regional anaesthesia (p = 0.027). The results of our study suggest that 30-day mortality is significantly higher in patients undergoing major lower extremity amputations under general anaesthesia compared with regional anaesthesia.