Unplanned readmissions after endovascular intervention or surgical bypass for critical limb ischemia

After surgery or other interventions, unplanned readmissions are associated with poor outcomes and drain health care resources. Patients with critical limb ischemia (CLI) are at particularly high risk of readmission, and readmissions result in increased health care costs. The primary aims of the study were to discover and compare the 30-day readmission rates of patients who underwent lower extremity surgical bypass (LEB) and endovascular infrainguinal endovascular intervention (IEI) for CLI and to evaluate the relationship between unplanned readmissions likely related to the primary procedure for IEI compared with LEB.

The Targeted Vascular Module from the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program was queried to identify all infrainguinal LEB or IEI for CLI from 2015 to 2018. Those who were not eligible for the primary outcome of interest were excluded. The primary 30-day outcome was unplanned readmission. Univariate analyses for primary and secondary outcomes were performed using Fisher's exact and Wilcoxon rank-sum testing. Multivariate analysis was performed using inverse probability weighting and independent risk factors for readmission were identified with logistic regression.

There were 12,873 patients who met inclusion criteria. In the LEB cohort, there were 7270 (56.5%) patients, and in the IEI cohort, there were 5603 (43.5%) patients. Thirty percent (n = 1696) of the IEI cohort underwent a tibial intervention, and 49% (n = 3547) underwent a distal bypass. The IEI cohort was more likely to be high physiologic risk (P < .001) and to present with tissue loss (P < .001), whereas the LEB cohort was more likely to have high anatomic risk features (P < .001) and be performed under emergent conditions (P < .001). After multivariable analysis, LEB was found to be independently predictive for both unplanned readmissions due to any cause (adjusted odds ratio, 1.35; 95% confidence interval, 1.22-1.51; P < .001) and procedure-related unplanned interventions (adjusted odds ratio, 1.85; 95% confidence interval, 1.63-2.11; P < .001). Independent predictors of readmission were LEB, preoperative sepsis, severe chronic kidney disease, dependent functional status, insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, high-risk physiologic features, African American race, preoperative steroid use, history of severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and preoperative tissue loss.

LEB is independently associated with unplanned readmission from all causes and from procedure-related causes after adjusting for the measured confounders. More research is required to determine the economic burden of these readmissions.