Surgery or balloon angioplasty for peripheral vascular disease: a randomized clinical trial. Principal investigators and their Associates of Veterans Administration Cooperative Study Number 199.
OBJECTIVE
Surgical revascularization and angioplasty (PTA) are effective therapies for patients with peripheral arterial disease, but there are no data on long-term survival, limb salvage, and hemodynamic status from a randomized study of such patients. A multicenter, prospective trial compared PTA with bypass surgery (BP) in 263 men who had iliac, femoral, or popliteal artery obstruction.


METHODS
Lesions in the iliac versus the femoropopliteal artery and rest pain versus claudication were separately randomized to the two treatment interventions. One hundred twenty-six patients underwent BP, 129 patients underwent PTA, and eight patients were not treated for lower extremity ischemia.


RESULTS
Three operative deaths occurred in the BP group and none in the PTA group. For the entire study, average annual mortality was higher in the BP group, but survival was not significantly different on life-table analysis (P = .08). Primary success favored BP, while limb salvage favored PTA, but differences were not statistically significant (P = .08 and .35, respectively). Patients with iliac disease or claudication fared better, but there was no statistical difference in response to PTA or BP.


CONCLUSIONS
Patients in both treatment groups had prompt and sustained increases in hemodynamics and quality of life. This study of patients randomly assigned to BP or PTA shows no significant difference in outcomes during a median follow-up of 4 years.
Wolf
G L
GL
Center for Imaging and Pharmaceutical Research, Harvard University, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown 02129-2060.
Wilson
S E
SE
Cross
A P
AP
Deupree
R H
RH
Stason
W B
WB
D000800:Angioplasty, Balloon; D005263:Femoral Artery; D006801:Humans; D007083:Iliac Artery; D007511:Ischemia / Q000601:surgery / Q000628:therapy*; D007866:Leg / Q000098:blood supply*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011150:Popliteal Artery; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014654:Vascular Patency; D014656:Vascular Surgical Procedures