Clinical characteristics and in-hospital outcomes of patients with critical leg ischemia: ICEBERG Study

Critical leg ischemia (CLI) is a medical emergency with a high morbidity and mortality. Although its prognosis has improved during the last years, there are no data on its clinical characteristics, treatment and in-hospital prognosis in our country. 671 patients (81% males, mean age 71.2 years) with atherosclerotic CLI, attended in 46 departments of vascular surgery were included in the study. Participants had a high prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors (72% hypertensive, 27% current smokers, 59% diabetics) and comorbidity (25% coronary heart disease, 18% cerebrovascular disease). 71% had a previous diagnosis of peripheral arterial disease. Upon admission, 71% were referred for revascularization, 5% for direct amputation and 24% for conservative treatment. During hospitalization 22 patients died and 49 were discharged with a major amputation. On multivariate analysis, the only factor associated with the risk of amputation was gangrenous lesions (OR 2.45; IC95% 1.22-4.92). Factors associated with mortality were the presence of chronic renal failure (OR 3.38; IC95% 1.36-8.39) and previous CLI (OR 0.20; IC95% 0.05-0.89). At discharge, 59% received lipid lowering drugs, 70% blood-pressure lowering medications and 85% antiplatelet drugs. CLI patients attended in Spanish vascular surgery departments have a low amputation rate and a low hospital mortality. However, and due to their high cardiovascular risk, it is necessary to improve the prescription rate of evidence-based cardiovascular prevention therapies at discharge.