An aneurysm is most commonly defined as a permanent focal dilatation of an artery to 1.5 times its normal diameter. While the abdominal aorta is the most common site of aneurysm formation, the popliteal artery (PA) represents the second most common site of aneurysm formation, accounting for more than 70 percent of all peripheral aneurysms. A popliteal artery aneurysm (PAA) is a focal dilatation of the popliteal artery (red arrow). PAAs are rare in the general population but more commonly found in patient populations with other aneurysms, such as abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). Within the general population, PAAs are predominantly found in men and are extremely rare in women. There are few studies on the prevalence of PAAs in healthy individuals, but 14-19% of male and 12% of female AAA patients have PAAs. There is no clear correlation between the diameter of the AAA and the prevalence of PAA. There is furthermore a lack of consensus of the precise arterial diameter that defines a PAA.
It is paramount to identify and treat PAA patients before acute symptoms develop, given the high risk of major complications associated with acute presentation, such as major amputation. Unfortunately, there is a lack of knowledge of the natural history for PAAs, which is why surgical procedures are recommended mainly based on clinical experience and guidelines developed from insufficient scientific information. The preventive purpose, more specifically to prevent the risk of acute symptom development, should be evaluated against the frequency of complications inflicted by surgical treatment, so called "surgical risk". For this reason, it is important to evaluate the patients' health-related quality of life (HRQoL) before and after treatment in order to determine how the surgical treatment affect patients. In general, the Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) is therefore emerging as an important outcome measure for interventions designed to improve patient's health, well-being, or both. There is very limited prior knowledge of HRQoL outcomes following surgical treatment of PAAs and the PAA patient's HRQoL, and whether-and to what extent- it becomes affected by the surgical treatment, is yet unknown. The surgical treatment in PAA patients and patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD), are comparable whereas the underlying pathologies are distinct. Thus, peripheral arterial disease patients commonly experience substantial symptom relief following a surgical intervention (i.e. lower limb pain is alleviated, or ischemic wound healing is promoted). By contrast, PAA patients are often asymptomatic prior to surgery. It is therefore conceivable that a surgical intervention in PAA patients translates to a lower HRQoL after surgery than what is observed following bypass surgery for PAD. However, this needs to be further explored and confirmed in prospective studies.
Aim To investigate whether the QoL of PAA patients compared to PAD patients after surgical and potential changes over time.
Hypothesis Compared to PAD patients, femoropopliteal/femorodistal bypass surgery interventions undertaken on PAA patients result in a more pronounced negative HRQoL impact.
