Tibio-pedal arterial pressure assessment during endovascular intervention to improve quality-of-life in patients with intermittent claudication

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to compare the quality-of-life (QOL) outcomes and the tibio-pedal arterial pressure post-endovascular intervention. BACKGROUND: Physiological assessment of peripheral arterial lesions is infrequently performed during endovascular interventions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed all 343 patients with intermittent claudication who underwent an endovascular intervention via tibio-pedal artery access from October 2018 to May 2021. The baseline and post-intervention tibio-pedal arterial pressures from the pedal sheaths were measured. QOL was assessed using a pre-validated Walking Impairment Questionnaire (WIQ) score before and at 30-day after intervention. We compared the baseline tibio-pedal arterial pressure, post-intervention tibio-pedal arterial pressure, delta pressure (post-intervention minus baseline), baseline WIQ scores, 30-day WIQ scores, and delta score (30-day minus baseline). RESULTS: All 343 patients had successful tibio-pedal accesses. The average tibio-pedal arterial pressure at baseline was 87.0 ± 1.8 mmHg vs. 135.5 ± 1.7 mmHg post-intervention (p < 0.001). Average baseline and 30-day WIQ scores were summation (99.8 ± 3.3 vs. 115.0 ± 3.1, p < 0.001), walking distance (35.7 ± 1.3 vs. 42.5 ± 1.3, p < 0.001), walking speed (21.1 ± 0.9 vs. 23.6 ± 0.8, p = 0.036), stair climbing (4.7 ± 1.4 vs. 24.2 ± 1.4, p = 0.019), and symptoms (18.8 ± 0.2 vs. 20.1 ± 0.2, p < 0.001), respectively. When comparing the increased post-intervention tibio-pedal arterial pressure <60 mmHg vs. ≥60 mmHg, the average delta WIQ scores were all significantly improved with summation (10.0 ± 3.9 to 25.8 ± 5.5, p = 0.01), walking distance (4.1 ± 1.7 to 9.8 ± 2.5, p = 0.02), walking speed (1.5 ± 1.1 to 4.3 ± 1.5, p = 0.02), stair climbing (2.3 ± 1.8 to 9.4 ± 2.5, p = 0.02), and symptoms (1.0 ± 0.3 to 1.8 ± 0.4, p = 0.04), respectively. CONCLUSION: Increasing the post-intervention tibio-pedal arterial pressure by 60 mmHg can enhance QOL as suggested by improvement of WIQ scores.