Safety of short 3-hour recovery and same-day discharge following lower-limb angioplasty in outpatients with intermittent claudication and critical limb ischaemia

Abstract

To investigate the safety and efficacy of short recovery day-case pathway following lower-limb angioplasty in both intermittent claudication and critical limb ischaemia patients. A retrospective analysis was undertaken of the medical records of consecutive outpatients treated with lower-limb angioplasty over a 1-year period within an interventional radiology (IR) day-case unit in a high-volume vascular centre. Standard post-angioplasty care at York Teaching Hospital is discharge 3 h after puncture site haemostasis without the routine use of closure devices. The rates of successful same-day discharge, procedure success, complications, and re-admissions were calculated with 30-day follow-up. The cohort included 301 patients (57% intermittent claudication and 43% critical limb ischaemia) undergoing 605 angioplasties using access sheath size ranging from 4 to 7 F. Closure devices were used in only 7% of patients. Successful same-day discharge achieved in 98% of patients (294/301), with seven admitted overnight because of complications. Eleven patients (3.6%) were re-admitted within 30 days. Technical success rates were 92%, and 96% when including partially successful interventions, with 4% technical failure. Twelve patients (4%) developed minor complications and four major complications (1%). There were no significant differences in complication rates between small and larger sheath sizes (p>0.05). No procedure-related death was recorded within 30 days. Lower-limb angioplasty can be performed safely as day-case procedure with a short recovery protocol within IR departments for both patients with intermittent claudication (IC) and critical limb ischaemia (CLI). This may significantly increase patient throughput and alleviate pressure on stretched hospital inpatient resources by safely discharging patients on the day of procedure.