A "win-win" for peripheral vascular intervention.

The physicians, hospitals, and particularly the sponsors of “Safety of Contemporary Percutaneous Peripheral Arterial Interventions in the Elderly: Insights from the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Cardiovascular Consortium Peripheral Vascular Intervention Registry” are to be congratulated for their innovative, forward-looking efforts to improve the quality of care for lower-extremity peripheral vascular disease (LE-PVD) patients in Michigan (1). Their report is based upon a large “real world” sample of heterogeneous patients treated in 18 hospitals (i.e., university-based, governmental, large multispecialty systems, and community hospitals) by a variety of physician specialists practicing peripheral vascular intervention (PVI). The primary outcome, which confirms the safety of PVI in elderly patients, will inform the national LE-PVD quality of care debate and impact future guideline documents.