IMPACT OF ANGIOPLASTY AND ARTERIAL RECONSTRUCTIVE SURGERY ON THE QUALITY-OF-LIFE OF CLAUDICANTS

Claudicants usually die from concomitant conditions. Therefore, surgic al interventions are aimed at improving quality of life, rather than s urvival. This study compared the impact of percutaneous transluminal a ngioplasty (PTA), arterial reconstruction and conservative management on quality of life. SF36 questionnaires were completed by 201 newly re ferred claudicants prior to treatment and six months later. Multiple r egression 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 deteriorat ed following conservative treatment. PTA and arterial reconstruction p roduced 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 impro vements in quality of life.