Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty of crural arteries:: Diabetes and other factors influencing outcome

Objective: to evaluate the efficacy of percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) of the crural arteries. Patients and methods: a retrospective review of patients treated with PTA of at least one crural artery during an 8-year period (1990-1997). Results: one hundred and fifty-five legs in 140 consecutive patients (mean age 74 years, range 38-91 years) were treated. In 76% a more proximal lesion was also treated. After 1 year, results were significantly better in non-diabetics (improvement rate of 66% vs 32%; p <0.05). The outcome for patients with a combination of diabetes, heart disease and renal disease was significantly worse compared to all other patients with an improvement rate of only 9% after 1 year. Patients alive and not amputated at 1 year were significantly more common (p <0.05) among non-diabetics (90%), compared to diabetics (66%). The 1-year mortality for, the whole group was 15%, significantly higher for diabetic patients (p = 0.04). Conclusion: PTA of crural arteries produces reasonably good results in non-diabetic patients. Diabetic patients were doing worse than non-diabetics after a year, though 1-month results were not significantly different. Patients with diabetes, heart disease and renal disease make a high-risk group that has a significantly worse outcome.