Prognostic Impact of Revascularization in Poor-Risk Patients With Critical Limb Ischemia: The PRIORITY Registry (Poor-Risk Patients With and Without Revascularization Therapy for Critical Limb Ischemia).

OBJECTIVES

The authors sought to investigate the prognostic impact of revascularization for poor-risk CLI patients in real-world settings.

BACKGROUND

Critical limb ischemia (CLI) is often accompanied with various comorbidities, and frailty is not rare in the population. Although previous studies suggested favorable outcomes of revascularization for CLI patients, those studies commonly included the healthier, that is, less frail patients.

METHODS

This was a multicenter prospective observational study, registering patients who presented with CLI and who required assistance for their daily lives because of their disability in activities of daily living (ADL) and/or impairment of cognitive function. Revascularization was either planned (revascularization group) or not planned (non-revascularization group). The primary endpoint was 1-year survival, and was compared between the revascularization and non-revascularization groups, using the propensity score-matching method.

RESULTS

Between January 2014 and April 2015, a total of 662 patients were registered, of those 100 non-revascularization patients were included. A total of 625 patients (94.4%) completed the 1-year follow-up. Death was observed in 223 patients (33.7%). After propensity score matching, the 1-year survival rate was 55.9% in the revascularization group versus 51.0% in the non-revascularization group, with no significant difference (p = 0.120). In the subgroups alive at 1 year after revascularization, health-related quality of life was significantly improved compared with baseline, whereas ADL scores were unchanged from baseline and still remained significantly worse than before CLI onset.

CONCLUSIONS

The 1-year overall survival rate was not significantly different between the revascularization and non-revascularization groups in poor-risk CLI patients. (Poor-Risk Patients With and Without Revascularization Therapy for Critical Limb Ischemia; [PRIORITY Registry]; UMIN000012871).