Popliteal-distal bypass affords better limb salvage than tibial angioplasty for chronic limb-threatening ischemia.

Objective: Chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI) due to isolated tibial occlusive disease is treated by either popliteal-distal bypass (PDB) or tibial angioplasty (TA), although there is limited data directly comparing efficacy and outcomes between these two treatment modalities. This study compares 30-day mortality and major adverse limb events following infrapopliteal bypass and TA in patients with CLTI.

Methods: Patients who underwent PDB for CLTI were extracted from American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program targeted lower extremity open database, whereas patient with CLTI who underwent isolated TA were identified in the targeted lower extremity endovascular database. Any case with more proximal angioplasty such as femoral/popliteal/iliac was excluded. The time interval was 2011 through 2022. The two groups were comparable in demographics, and preoperative comorbidities were obtained using propensity matching. Mortality, systemic complications, and major adverse limb events were measured. Multivariable logistic regression was used for data analysis. To obtain granular data on the angiographic characteristics of patients undergoing PDB or TA, The George Washington University institutional data from 2014 to 2019 was used as a supplement to the database.

Results: There were 1947 and 3423 cases identified in the bypass and endovascular groups, respectively. After propensity matching for all preoperative variables, 1747 cases remained in each group. Although bypass was associated with higher major adverse cardiovascular events, pulmonary, renal, and wound complications, bypass had significantly better 30-day limb salvage when compared with TA (major amputation rate, 3.32% vs 6.12%; P < .01). Institutional data identified 69 patients with CLTI due to isolated tibial occlusive disease; 25 (36.2%) underwent PDB and 44 (63.8%) underwent TA. Review of angiographic details revealed patients who underwent PDB had better pedal targets (inframalleolar/pedal score of P0 [24.0% vs 15.9%] or P1 [68.0% vs 61.3%]) than TA patients (inframalleolar/pedal score of P2 [22.7% vs 8.0%]).

Conclusions: PDB was associated with higher morbidity but better limb salvage than endovascular interventions. However, this could be explained by the association with better pedal targets in patients who underwent popliteal-tibial bypass. Prospective studies should be done comparing PDB and TA in cases with similar pedal targets.