Quality of Life After a Successful Femoropopliteal/Crural Reconstruction for Critical Leg Ischaemia—A One-year Prospective Study

Previous studies have shown that quality of life is markedly affected by chronic lower limb ischaemia, with regard to pain, energy and physical mobility compared with healthy controls. It is also known that a haemodynamically successful revascularization leads to improved quality of life 6 and 12 months postoperatively. However, critical ischaemia patients did not reach the same level of quality of life as claudicants or healthy controls. Nevertheless, several methods of vascular intervention in patients with critical leg ischaemia exist today, and their outcome has not yet been extensively studied. This report presents the effect on quality of life after a haemodynamically successful femoropopliteal/crural reconstruction in patients with critical leg ischaemia compared to healthy controls throughout the first postoperative year.