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Objectives: Unplanned hospital readmission is a leading source of hospital resource expenditure, and preventing readmission may improve both patient quality of life and healthcare costs. The factors influencing hospital readmission after lower extremity bypass (LEB) for chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI) remain incompletely investigated. Methods: A regional, multi-institutional database was retrospectively reviewed for all patients who underwent LEB for CLTI between 1995 to 2020. The primary outcome was unplanned hospital readmission up to 30 days following bypass. Results: A total of 1315 patients underwent LEB across all institutions, of whom 843 (64.1%) underwent bypass for CLTI. The 30-day hospital readmission rate was 25.3%, and the leading causes of readmission were wound-related complications (51.6%). There was no difference in age, sex, or race between readmitted and non-readmitted patients. Conduit type and bypass target were also similar between groups. Readmitted patients more frequently underwent LEB for tissue loss (58.2% vs 50.2%, P = 0.042). On multivariable analysis, wound infection (odds ratio [OR] 9.1, 95% confidence interval [CI] 6.2-13.2, P < 0.001) and non-infectious wound complications (OR 2.0, 95% CI 1.0-3.9, P = 0.041) were independently associated with hospital readmission. Factors not associated with hospital readmission included patient age, conduit type, distal bypass target, and other medical comorbidities. Conclusions: One quarter of patients are readmitted within 30 days following lower extremity bypass for chronic limb-threatening ischemia. Efforts to mitigate wound infection and non-infectious wound complications may decrease rates of unplanned hospital readmission.

Objectives: Data from 2011-2014 showed lower extremity bypass(LEB) outperforming infrainguinal endovascular intervention(IEI) regarding major adverse limb events(MALE) but noted no significant difference in major adverse cardiac events(MACE) in propensity matched cohorts. This study aimed to determine if more recent(2015-2018) endovascular outcomes data have improved relative to surgical bypass., Methods: Patients who underwent intervention for chronic limb threatening ischemia (CLTI) from 2015-2018 were identified using the American College of Surgeons National Quality Improvement Program(NSQIP) Vascular Surgery module. The cohort was categorized as undergoing lower extremity bypass(LEB) or infrainguinal endovascular intervention(IEI). Primary 30-day outcomes included major adverse cardiac events(MACE), major adverse limb events(MALE), and major amputation. Inverse probability weighting was used for multivariable analysis., Results: A total of 10,783 patients underwent an infrainguinal intervention for CLTI from 2015-2018. Of these, 6,003(55.7%) underwent LEB and 4,780(44.3%) underwent IEI. Forty percent of the cohort was considered "high anatomic risk" by Objective Performance Goals(OPG) standards, and 13.6% were considered "high clinical risk." The IEI cohort vs. the LEB cohort experienced a Myocardial infarction(MI)/Stroke rate of 1.8% vs. 3.6%(p < .001), and had a mortality rate of 2.0% vs. 1.7%(p = .22), which yielded a composite MACE of 3.4% vs. 4.8%(p = .001). The rate of reintervention for IEI vs LEB was 4.4% vs. 5.3%(p = .04), the loss of patency (without re-intervention) rate was 1.8% vs. 1.8%(p = 1.0), and the major amputation rate was 4.1% vs. 3.5%(p = .15), which resulted in a MALE rate of 9.1% vs. 8.8%(p = .50). Following inverse probability weighting, comparing the IEI to the referent LEB, MALE AOR = 1.17, 95% CI[1.01 -1.36], p = .036, MACE AOR = 0.61, 95% CI[0.49-0.74], p < .001, and major amputation AOR = 1.31, 95% CI[1.05 -1.62], p = .016., Conclusion: Endovascular outcomes continue to demonstrate inferiority in major amputation and overall MALE. However, endovascular intervention has a significantly reduced incidence of MACE. Overall, these results demonstrate an improvement in endovascular MACE rates in recent years relative to surgical bypass.