Real-world antithrombotic treatment variability in patients undergoing peripheral vascular intervention: Insights from the VQI registry

For those undergoing peripheral vascular interventions (PVI), guidelines indicate the use of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) is reasonable (Class IIb), but recommendations have not reached the highest level of evidence. In the largest effort to date, we found that antithrombotic prescription was dominated by single antiplatelet therapy (SAPT) (51.4%) before PVI, which switched to DAPT (57.7%) following PVI, with some patients still remaining on no therapy (8%). High site variability in prescription rates (median odds ratio: 1.40, 95% confidence interval: 1.32, 1.48) was not much explained by patient and provider factors, revealing a need for the creation and integration of the newest trial data and for interventions at the health system or practice level to help physicians determine the optimal medical therapy following PVI.