Impact of angioplasty and arterial reconstructive surgery on the quality of life of claudicants. The Scottish Vascular Audit Group.

Claudicants usually die from concomitant conditions. Therefore, surgical interventions are aimed at improving quality of life, rather than survival. This study compared the impact of percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA), arterial reconstruction and conservative management on quality of life. SF36 questionnaires were completed by 201 newly referred claudicants prior to treatment and six months later. Multiple regression was used to compare the quality of life scores following the three treatments after adjustment for baseline scores, age, sex, site of disease and disease severity. Follow-up data were available on 81% of the 195 patients alive. Nineteen (10%) of these had undergone PTA and 19 (10%) reconstruction. All aspects of quality of life deteriorated following conservative treatment. PTA and arterial reconstruction produced significant improvements in both pain and physical functioning after adjustment for case-mix. Although unlikely to improve survival, PTA and arterial reconstruction are associated with significant improvements in quality of life.