The purpose of this study is to compare the effectiveness of aortic stent surgery versus exercise therapy in individuals with aortoiliac insufficiency.
BACKGROUND: Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a major source of morbidity and mortality, particularly in older individuals. Despite its high prevalence, clinicians often fail to diagnose PAD, particularly in patients who do not have classic claudication symptoms. Even in those individuals with documented PAD, cardiac risk factors are not often aggressively treated, and only a minority of patients receive pharmacologic therapy with cilostazol. Although there is a growing body of literature demonstrating the value of exercise rehabilitation in individuals with peripheral vascular disease and claudication, exercise rehabilitation is not often prescribed as supervised exercise rehabilitation for claudication, is not reimbursed by Medicare, and is rarely covered by private insurance. Therefore, few individuals with PAD and intermittent claudication have access to supervised exercise rehabilitation. The use of surgical intervention and stent placement to improve blood flow in patients who do not have ischemic pain at rest or limb-threatening ischemia (Fontaine class III or IV) remains controversial. There is data suggesting that patients with intermittent claudication who have had revascularization with stents have improved exercise capacity and walking times. However, the patients in the various studies often differ substantially in their clinical characteristics, and a variety of techniques were employed, including balloon angioplasty and stents, which makes it difficult to come to a definitive conclusion about the relative efficacy of stenting to improve functional performance. Additionally, to our knowledge, the combination of stent revascularization with supervised exercise rehabilitation has not been studied. DESIGN NARRATIVE: The broad objective of the study is to optimize physical functioning, increase activity levels, and reduce cardiovascular disease risk in older individuals with PAD. The specific aim of the trial is to test the primary hypothesis that aortoiliac stenting/pharmacotherapy improves maximum walking duration (MWD) better than supervised exercise rehabilitation/exercise maintenance/pharmacotherapy for those with aortoiliac artery obstruction at 6 months. Other aims are to compare these two treatment groups with two other treatment groups, optimal medical care/pharmacotherapy and combined stent plus supervised exercise rehabilitation, at 6 months, and to compare all 4 groups with regard to the following variables: MWD change score at 18 months, changes in free-living daily activity levels, patient-perceived quality of life (QoL), and cost-effectiveness. The study also will perform exploratory analyses of demographic and biochemical risk factors for atherosclerosis, including body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, lipid profile, hemoglobin Alc (HgbAlc), fibrinogen, and C-reactive protein. An estimated 252 patients (at up to 30 study sites) with aortoiliac insufficiency and intermittent claudication will be randomly divided into four groups: optimal medical care/pharmacotherapy, supervised exercise rehabilitation/maintenance/pharmacotherapy, stent/pharmacotherapy, and stent/supervised exercise rehabilitation/pharmacotherapy. Recruitment will be performed over 28 months and patients will be followed for 18 months; the total study duration will be 5 years.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
DOUBLE
Enrollment
119
Stent
Supervised exercise therapy, three times per week
Cilostazol, 100 mg twice a day
MWD change score
Aortoiliac revascularization with stent (ST) combined with optimal medical care (OMC) improves maximum walking duration (MWD) compared to optimal medical care alone in patients with claudication and peripheral arterial disease (PAD) who are amenable to peripheral stenting
Time frame: Measured at 6 months
MWD change score
Regular supervised exercise (SE) combined with optimal medical care (OMC) improves maximum walking duration compared to optimal medical care along in patients with claudication and PAD who are amenable to peripheral stenting.
Time frame: Measured at 6 months
MWD change score
Aortoiliac revascularization with stent (ST) combined with optimal medical care improves maximum walking duration compared to supervised exercise (SE) combined with optimal medical care in patients with claudication and PAD who are amenable to peripheral stenting.
Time frame: Measured at 6 months
MWD change score
To evaluate the mid-term durability of any treatment effect by performing pair-wise comparison of change in MWD between baseline and 18 month time points among all three treatment groups of primary interest.
Time frame: Measured at 18 months
Free-living daily activity
To assess a treatment effect on free-living daily activity levels of any treatment group, comparing baseline electronic step monitors values with those obtained at both follow up intervals (6 and 18 months)
Time frame: Measured at 6 and 18 months
Quality of Life
To examine treatment effects on patient-perceived health-related quality of life (physical function) between all groups at 6 and 18 months
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VA Loma Linda
Loma Linda, California, United States
St. Joseph Hospital
Orange, California, United States
VA Palo Alto Health Care Systems
Palo Alto, California, United States
UC Davis
Sacramento, California, United States
Vasek Polak Research Program
Torrance, California, United States
Baptist Cardiac and Vascular Institute
Miami, Florida, United States
Aiyan Diabetes Center
Evans, Georgia, United States
Northwestern Memorial Hospital
Chicago, Illinois, United States
The Iowa Clinic
Des Moines, Iowa, United States
Rapides Regional Medical Center
Alexandria, Louisiana, United States
...and 17 more locations
Time frame: Measured at 6 and 18 months
Cost-effectiveness
To Examine inpatient and outpatient costs associated with the three treatment strategies, and to evaluate the relative cost-benefit by calculating incremental cost-effectiveness and cost effectiveness acceptability curves using health utility change in the denominator.
Time frame: Measured at 18 months
Cardiovascular risk factors
To evaluate the impact of cardiovascular disease risk factors by comparing these values at baseline, 6 months, and 18 months.
Time frame: Measured at baseline, 6 months, and 18 months
Interaction effect
To evaluate the interaction effect, if any, of gender or race on improvements in MWD, improvement in free-living daily activities, and quality-of-life.
Time frame: Measured at 18 months
Major adverse peripheral events
To track major adverse peripheral events (MAPEs) associated with aortoiliac stenting and femoropopliteal endovascular intervention.
Time frame: Measured from randomization to 18 months
Major complication
Rate of major complication defined as any occurrence of death, myocardial infarction, amputation of the target limb (limb treated in this study), or occurrence of critical limb ischemia or repeat target limb revascularization (TLiR).
Time frame: Measured from randomization to 18 months