[Diagnostics and treatment of lower extremity peripheral arterial disease; guideline and registry].

- Revision of the 2005 guideline 'Diagnostics and treatment of lower extremity peripheral arterial disease' and the development of an audit have instigated a degree of efficiency and transparency for the treatment of patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD). - The key recommendations are that first-line treatment of patients, who - preferably by means of a consultation in a vascular laboratory - are diagnosed with intermittent claudication, is supervised exercise therapy and secondary prevention. Referral for second-line treatment only needs to occur when invasive therapy is considered, for example when there is insufficient improvement in symptoms or in patients who have or are developing critical ischemia. - In case of endovascular treatments it is not necessary to insert stents routinely; this can be reserved for cases where the angiographic result of the angioplasty is insufficient. - All patients with PAD are registered on the DAPA register ('Dutch audit for peripheral arterial disease'), which has two unique characteristics: patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) are recorded and a case mix correction is incorporated for the PROMs and amputation-free survival through linkage with the health insurance database.