Objective: To reveal the influence of preoperative factors on the prognosis of patients undergoing percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) for critical limb ischemia (CLI).
Research design and methods: We recruited 278 Japanese patients who underwent PTA for CLI between 2003 and 2009. The outcome measures were mortality and major amputation. Cox proportional hazards regression analyses were performed.
Results: The prevalence of diabetes was 71%, and A1C was 7.0 ± 1.4%. The follow-up period was 90 ± 72 weeks, and 48 patients underwent major amputations and 89 died. The presence of diabetes in the whole population and A1C level in the diabetic population had no influence on morality; rather, mortality was associated with age (P = 0.007), impaired activities of daily living (P < 0.001), hemodialysis (P < 0.001), and albumin level (P = 0.010). In contrast, the presence of diabetes and A1C level had significant association with major amputation (P = 0.012 and P = 0.007, respectively). The quartile analysis showed that diabetic subjects with an A1C ≥ 6.8%, but not <6.8%, had a significantly higher risk of major amputation than nondiabetic subjects. The adjusted hazard ratio of diabetes with A1C ≥ 6.8% was 2.907 (95% CI 1.606-5.264) (P < 0.001).
Conclusions: Diabetes with poor glycemic control is associated with major amputation, but not mortality, in CLI patients undergoing PTA. Prognostic indicators seem somewhat different between survival and limb salvage in the population.