Abstract
Treatment of peripheral artery disease (PAD) has undergone a progressive shift toward
less invasive, endovascular options within the last three decades. For PAD patients,
the benefits of this shift are numerous and include less periprocedural pain, decreased
blood loss, shorter recovery times, and fewer missed workdays. Commonly, patient-reported
outcomes are very positive with this “endovascular first” strategy and the number
of open surgical procedures for various stages of PAD has declined steadily over the
last 20 years. Coincident with this trend is the move toward “ambulatory” lower extremity
arterial intervention (LEAI) in the hospital outpatient “same-day” department. The
next logical extension was then performing LEAI in a true physician office-based lab
(OBL), ambulatory surgical center (ASC), or “non-hospital setting.” This article examines
these trends and the concept that the OBL/ASC provides a safe, alternative site of
service for PAD patients requiring LEAI.
Keywords
peripheral artery disease - office-based lab - ambulatory surgical center - interventional
radiology
