Intermittent Claudication: Clinical Effectiveness of Endovascular Revascularization versus Supervised Hospital-based Exercise Training-Randomized Controlled Trial

Sandra Spronk, Joke Bosch, Ted Hoed, HF Veen, Peter Pattynama, Myriam Hunink

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

129 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Purpose: To compare clinical success, functional capacity, and quality of life during 12 months after revascularization or supervised exercise training in patients with intermittent claudication. Materials and Methods: This study had institutional review board approval, and all patients gave written informed consent. Between September 2002 and September 2005, 151 consecutive patients who presented with symptoms of intermittent claudication were randomly assigned to undergo either endovascular revascularization (angioplasty-first approach) (n = 76) or hospital-based supervised exercise (n = 75). The outcome measures were clinical success, functional capacity, and quality of life after 6 and 12 months. Clinical success was defined as improvement in at least one category in the Rutherford scale above the pretreatment level. Significance of differences between the groups was assessed with the unpaired t test, chi(2) test, or Mann-Whitney U test. To adjust outcomes for imbalances of baseline values, multi-variable regression analysis was performed. Results: Immediately after the start of treatment, patients who underwent revascularization improved more than patients who performed exercise in terms of clinical success (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 39; 99% confidence interval [CI]: 11, 131; P < .001), but this advantage was lost after 6 (adjusted OR, 0.9; 99% CI: 0.3, 2.3; P = .70) and 12 (adjusted OR, 1.1; 99% CI: 0.5, 2.8; P = .73) months. After revascularization, fewer patients showed signs of ipsilateral symptoms at 6 months compared with patients in the exercise group (adjusted OR, 0.4; 99% CI: 0.2, 0.9; P < .001), but no significant differences were demonstrated at 12 months. After both treatments, functional capacity and quality of life scores increased after 6 and 12 months, but no significant differences between the groups were demonstrated. Conclusion: After 6 and 12 months, patients with intermittent claudication benefited equally from either endovascular revascularization or supervised exercise. Improvement was, however, more immediate after revascularization. (C) RSNA, 2009
Original languageUndefined/Unknown
Pages (from-to)586-595
Number of pages10
JournalRadiology
Volume250
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2009

Research programs

  • EMC COEUR-09
  • EMC NIHES-01-64-03
  • EMC NIHES-03-30-01
  • EMC NIHES-03-30-02

Cite this