Wound Healing Outcomes and Health-Related Quality-of-Life Changes in the ACHILLES Trial: 1-Year Results From a Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial of Infrapopliteal Balloon Angioplasty Versus Sirolimus-Eluting Stenting in Patients With Ischemic Periph

ObjectivesThe authors sought to report the wound healing outcomes, health-related quality-of-life changes and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) gain in the 2 treatment arms of the ACHILLES (Comparing Angioplasty and DES in the Treatment of Subjects With Ischemic Infrapopliteal Arterial Disease) multicenter randomized trial.BackgroundThe ACHILLES randomized trial has previously shown that sirolimus-eluting stents (SES) may achieve lower vessel restenosis and higher event-free survival rates compared with plain balloon angioplasty (PTA) for infrapopliteal lesions.MethodsA total of 200 patients were randomly assigned between SES and PTA for the treatment of infrapopliteal arterial occlusive lesions. Progression of wound healing was serially assessed by digital photography. Health-related quality-of-life scores were assessed with the self-administered EQ-5D questionnaire up to 1 year from randomization. QALYs gained were calculated with a standard multiplicative model using distribution-free Bayesian modeling.ResultsIn total, 109 open wounds (n = 54 in SES; n = 55 in PTA) were documented at baseline. At 6 months, wound volume reduction (%) was significantly higher in the SES group (95% healing [95% confidence interval (CI): 80% to 99%] compared with 60% healing [95% CI: 13% to 90%] in the PTA group; p = 0.048). At 1 year, rates of complete wound closure were higher in the case of SES (72.9% vs. 55.6% closed wounds in PTA; p = 0.088). The recorded weighted EQ-5D score improved significantly up to 1 year in case of SES (p < 0.0001), but not in case of PTA. There was a trend of more QALYs gained with SES compared with PTA up to 1 year after randomization. Relative QALY gain was 0.10 (95% CI: −0.01 to 0.21; p = 0.08) in the whole study and 0.17 (95% CI: −0.03 to 0.35; p = 0.09) in the wound subgroups comparison.ConclusionsInfrapopliteal SES accelerates wound healing and may improve quality of life compared with PTA. (Comparing Angioplasty and DES in the Treatment of Subjects With Ischemic Infrapopliteal Arterial Disease [ACHILLES]; NCT00640770)