Frailty and outcome after lower limb revascularisation
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Exploring the association between frailty and outcome in patients undergoing lower limb revascularisation for critical ischaemia
IRAS ID
243328
Contact name
Ian Nordon
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Southampton
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
18/SC/0357, South Central Hampshire - A REC
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
When blockages build up in arteries of the leg the blood supply becomes impaired. Eventually the blood supply becomes inadequate to maintain the tissues of the foot leading to pain and gangrene. In order to preserve the limb vascular surgeons perform operations to clean out the arteries or bypass them. This is relatively major surgery. More significant is the fact that most patients who come to need this surgery are generally frail. They may have been declining for some time and carry additional illnesses such as diabetes, cardiac disease and chronic respiratory disease. Often the recovery from these operations is long and patients can stay up to 10 days in hospital. It has been observed that patients may take some time to return to their base-line fitness requiring a period of rehabilitation. Whilst some patients may never return to independent living despite successful limb-saving surgery.
In this study we are exploring whether we can predict the outcome after surgery based on assessments of frailty performed on admission to hospital prior to treatment. Outcomes in this setting are usually measured in terms of limb salvage. We propose examining whether preoperative frailty measured by questionnaire and hand grip strength measurements will predict discharge destination. Whether a patient after treatment will return to independent living, require assistance, require rehabilitation, or full-time care on discharge. The results from this study will present clinicians with very relevant outcomes which will inform consenting, clinical decision-making and preemptive planning in this complex cohort of patients.REC name
South Central - Oxford C Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/SC/0357
Date of REC Opinion
21 Jun 2018
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion