Endovascular Versus Surgical Revascularization for Acute Limb Ischemia

Background: The optimal revascularization strategy for acute limb ischemia (ALI) remains unclear, and contemporary comparative effectiveness data on endovascular versus surgical revascularization are lacking. Methods: We used the 2010 to 2014 National Inpatient Sample databases to identify hospitalizations with a primary diagnosis of ALI. Patients were propensity-score matched on the likelihood of undergoing endovascular versus surgical revascularization using a logistic regression model. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. Secondary outcomes included myocardial infarction, stroke, composite of death/myocardial infarction/stroke, any amputation, fasciotomy, acute kidney injury, major bleeding, transfusion, vascular complications, length of stay, and hospital costs. Results: Of 10 484 (weighted national estimate=51 914) hospitalizations for ALI, endovascular revascularization was performed in 5008 (47.8%) and surgical revascularization in 5476 (52.2%). In the propensity-score matched cohort (n=7746; 3873 per group), patients who underwent endovascular revascularization had significantly lower in-hospital mortality (2.8% versus 4.0%; P =0.002), myocardial infarction (1.9% versus 2.7%; P =0.022), composite of death/myocardial infarction/stroke (5.2% versus 7.5%; P <0.001), acute kidney injury (10.5% versus 11.9%; P =0.043), fasciotomy (1.9% versus 8.9%; P <0.001), major bleeding (16.7% versus 21.0%; P <0.001), and transfusion (10.3% versus 18.5%; P <0.001), but higher vascular complications (1.4% versus 0.7%; P =0.002), compared with those undergoing surgical revascularization. Rates of any amputation were similar between the 2 groups (4.7% versus 5.1%; P =0.43). Median length of stay was shorter and hospital costs higher with endovascular versus surgical revascularization. Conclusions: In patients with ALI, endovascular revascularization was associated with better in-hospital clinical outcomes compared with surgical revascularization. Contemporary randomized controlled trials are needed to determine the optimal revascularization strategy for ALI.