Determinants of intermediate term clinical outcome after endovascular below-knee interventions

Background: To determine predictors of clinical outcome after endovascular interventions of crural arteries in patients with peripheral arterial disease. Patients and methods: We prospectively followed 154 limbs in 147 patients treated with below the knee endovascular interventions for critical limb ischemia (52 %) and severe claudication (48 %). Patient-immanent, hemodynamic-procedural and anatomic determinants of outcome were analyzed. Outcome was defined as event-free survival from the combined endpoint freedom from re-intervention, major amputation and death. Results: Cumulative event-free survival after 12 months was 65.1 %. During follow-up 42 patients (27.3 %) required re-intervention, 8 (5.2 %) underwent major amputation and 5 (3.2 %) died. In univariate analyses, the presence of critical limb ischemia, multilevel disease, age > 72 years, impaired renal function, and long lesions (> 65 mm) were significant determinants of the study endpoint. The anatomic location of the lesion, distal patency of t...