Beta-blocker treatment does not worsen critical limb ischemia in patients receiving endovascular therapy

Aim: it has been reported that beta-blockers (bb) reduce cardiovascular events in patients with atherosclerotic disease. however,little is known about the efficacy of these drugs in patients with critical limb ischemia (cli). we investigated whether beta-blocker therapy affects the clinical outcomes of cli patients. methods: between march 2004 and december 2011,1,873 consecutive cli patients who received endovascular therapy (evt) (394 bb-treated patients and 1,479 non-bb-treated patients) for de novo infrainguinal lesions were identified retrospectively. a propensity score analysis was used for risk adjustment in a multivariable analysis and one-to-one matching (bb: 305,non-bb 305). the primary endpoint was amputation-free survival (afs),and the secondary endpoints were overall survival and the rates of limb salvage and freedom from major adverse limb events (male; including repeat reintervention,surgical conversion and major amputation). the mean follow-up period was 22±15 months. results: in the propensity score-matched pair analysis,there were no significant differences in afs between the patients treated with and without beta-blockers (58.8% vs. 58.5% at three years,logrank p= 0.76). there were also no significant differences in the limb salvage rate (88.3% vs. 88.8 at three years,log-rank p=0.41),overall survival (63.0% vs. 62.4% at three years,log-rank p= 0.70) and freedom from male (43.6% vs. 44.9% at three years,log-rank p=0.58) between the patients treated with and without beta-blockers. conclusions: the present results suggest that beta-blocker therapy does not worsen the clinical outcomes after evt in cli patients. © 2014,journal of atherosclerosis and thrombosis. all rights reserved.