Health-related quality of life after angioplasty and stent placement in patients with iliac artery occlusive disease: results of a randomized controlled clinical trial. The Dutch Iliac Stent Trial Study Group

BACKGROUND: To assess the quality of life in patients with iliac artery occlusive disease, we compared primary stent placement versus primary angioplasty followed by selective stent placement in a multicenter randomized controlled trial. METHODS AND RESULTS: Quality-of-life assessments were completed by 254 patients in a telephone interview. Assessment measures consisted of the RAND 36-Item Health Survey 1.0, time tradeoff, standard gamble, rating scale, health utilities index, and EuroQol-5D. The interviews were performed before treatment and after 1, 3, 12, and 24 months. When the 2 treatments were compared, no significant difference was observed (P>0.05). All measurements showed a significant improvement in the quality of life after treatment (P<0.05). The RAND 36-Item Health Survey measures physical functioning, role limitations caused by physical problems, and bodily pain and the EuroQol-5D were the most sensitive to the impact of revascularization. CONCLUSIONS: Health-related quality of life improves equally after primary stent placement and primary angioplasty with selective stent placement in the treatment of intermittent claudication caused by iliac artery occlusive disease.