Introduction:
There have been few studies evaluating the influence of time to wound healing on outcomes in patients with critical limb ischemia (CLI) after endovascular therapy.
Methods:
In this prospective study, patients with CLI treated with endovascular therapy were assessed for comorbidities, presence of wounds, wound healing, and major adverse limb events (MALE; major amputation, surgical endartectomy, or bypass) over time. The incidence of MALE was compared across patient and wound characteristics by Kaplan-Meier analysis. Associations between these variables and MALE were determined by Cox proportional hazards analysis.
Results:
A total of 252 consecutive patients with CLI were treated between November 1, 2011 and April 1, 2015; 179 (71%) had wounds, of which 97 (54%) healed. During median follow-up of 12.7 months (interquartile range 3.9 - 23.9 months), 46 (18%) had MALE. Wounds were associated with a greater risk of MALE (Hazard Ratio [HR] 3.5; 95% Confidence Interval [CI] 1.4-8.9; p=0.008). As a time-dependent covariate, wound healing was associated with less MALE (HR 0.23; 95% CI 0.10-0.53; p<0.001), and MALE was more frequent in patients with unhealed wounds (23% vs 11%; p<0.0001) (Figure - A). There was significantly less MALE in patients whose wounds healed within 4 months (24% vs 10%; p=0.032) (Figure - B), and less major amputation in those with healed wounds within 3 months (16% vs 5%; p=0.033). After multivariate adjustment for age, presence of diabetes, renal function, wound size, and procedural failure, independent predictors of MALE were wound healing as a time-dependent covariate (HR 0.18; 95% CI 0.08 - 0.40; p<0.0001), and creatinine ≥ 2 (HR 2.3; 95% CI 1.3-4.2; p=0.005).
Conclusions:
A shorter time to wound healing is associated with less MALE in patients with CLI after endovascular therapy. Efforts should be made to achieve wound healing as quickly as possible in this population, especially in those with renal dysfunction.
TCT-526 A New Scoring System for Predicting Wound Healing in Critical Limb Ischemia with Tissue Loss following Endovascular Therapy
