The fate of patients with intermittent claudication--comparison of surgical and non-surgical treatment

The purpose of this study was to determine the operative indication for patients with intermittent claudication because of arteriosclerosis obliterans, and to compare the late result of the surgical treatment group (130 cases, 175 limbs) with that of the non-surgical treatment group (27 cases, 31 limbs). There were 3 operative deaths and 21 late deaths in the surgical group, and 11 late deaths in the non-surgical group. The number one cause of death was heart failure, including ischemic heart disease, in both groups. The 5-year cumulative patency rate was 92.5% in the aorto-iliac, 70.6% in the femoro-distal and 82.0% in the aorto-femoro-distal arterial reconstructions. Long term symptom free rates of the surgical group and the non-surgical group, except fatal cases, were 87.2% and 25.0% in the aorto-iliac, 57.7% and 25.0% in the femoro-distal, 86.7% and 0% in the aorto-femoro-distal arterial regions, respectively. Late result of intermittent claudication in the surgical group was better than that in the non-surgical group. We conclude that intermittent claudication should be considered to be the indication for surgery, except for the cases with high risk diseases or malignant diseases.