Prognosis of patients with diabetes mellitus after endarterectomy of the femoral artery.
The perioperative prognosis of 81 diabetic patients after endarterectomy of the femoral artery was analyzed by a computer program and compared to the prognosis of a control group of 83 nondiabetic patients. The percentage of female patients in the group with diabetes mellitus was 22% in comparison with 8% of the control group. Most of the diabetic patients in clinical degree II/III were approximately 10 years younger at the time of operation than the patients of the control group. Cardiac complications occurred in 16% of the diabetic patients and in 1% of the nondiabetic patients. The hospital mortality in the group with diabetes mellitus was 14%, significantly higher than the 6% mortality among patients of the control group (x2 = 4.26). Clinical evaluation of the patients in both groups showed that the patency rate of the reconstructed vessels was 80%.