title: Review: Quality of life in lower limb peripheral vascular surgery.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Vascular intervention studies generally consider patency and limb salvage as primary outcomes. However, quality of life is increasingly considered an important patient-oriented outcome measurement of vascular interventions. Existing literature was analyzed to determine the effect of different treatments on quality of life for patients suffering from either claudication or critical limb ischemia.
  
  
  METHODS
  A review of the literature was undertaken in the Medline library. A search was performed on quality of life in peripheral arterial disease. Results were stratified according to treatment groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-one articles described quality of life in approximately 4600 patients suffering from peripheral arterial disease. Invasive treatment generally results in better quality of life scores (at a maximum of 2 years of follow-up), compared with non-invasive treatment. In patients with critical limb ischemia, successful revascularization improves quality of life scores. Only one study reported long-term results.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Increase in quality of life scores can be found for any intervention performed for peripheral arterial disease. However, there is scarce information on long-term quality of life after vascular intervention.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Amphia Hospital, Breda, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jmw
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Donker
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Psychology, Tilburg University & St. Elisabeth Hospital, Tilburg, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: de Vries
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Amphia Hospital, Breda, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: G H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Ho
authors.affiliation: Department of Vascular Surgery, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands Department of Angiology and Vascular Surgery, Hospital de Santa Marta, Lisbon, Portugal.
authors.forename: F Bastos
authors.initials: FB
authors.lastname: Gonçalves
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: S E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Hoeks
authors.affiliation: Department of Vascular Surgery, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: H J M
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Verhagen
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Amphia Hospital, Breda, The Netherlands lvanderlaan@amphia.nl.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: van der Laan
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D035002:Lower Extremity / Q000098:blood supply*; D058729:Peripheral Arterial Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology / Q000601:surgery*; D011788:Quality of Life; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014656:Vascular Surgical Procedures
keywords: Quality of life; peripheral arterial disease; peripheral bypass surgery; peripheral vascular disease; vascular