High Global Limb Anatomic Staging System Femoropopliteal Grade is Positively Associated with Wound Healing in Patients with Chronic Limb-Threatening Ischemia Undergoing Endovascular Therapy Only for Femoropopliteal Disease.

Background: To investigate the prognostic impact of femoropopliteal (FP) arterial anatomic severity including classification by the global limb anatomic staging system (GLASS) on wound healing in patients with chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI) who had undergone endovascular therapy (EVT) only for FP lesions.

Methods: This was a retrospective single-center study. We treated 349 consecutive de novo CLTI limbs with tissue loss from January 2017 to May 2021. Among these, 91 limbs treated via EVT only for FP lesions were enrolled. We compared the clinical background, infrapopliteal (IP)/FP arterial anatomical characteristics, and EVT results between the limbs with GLASS FP grade 1 or 2 (low GLASS FP, n = 20) and those with GLASS FP grade 3 or 4 (high GLASS FP, n = 71). The Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate the wound healing rate. The Cox proportional hazard model was used to assess the association between baseline characteristics and wound healing.

Results: No patient underwent EVT for IP lesions. IP arterial anatomical characteristics did not show any significant difference between the low and high GLASS FP groups. The cumulative wound healing rate after EVT was significantly higher in the high GLASS FP group than in the low GLASS FP group (88% vs. 39% at 6 months; P < 0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed that low wound, ischemia, and foot infection (WIfI) clinical stage (stage 1 or 2) (hazard ratio [HR] 2.33; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.32-4.17) and high GLASS FP (grade 3 or 4) (HR 5.18; 95% CI 1.99-13.51) were independent factors for wound healing.

Conclusions: High GLASS FP grade was positively associated with wound healing after EVT only for FP lesions.