Peripheral Artery Disease
Restoring blood flow to the legs when walking distance keeps shortening or a wound will not heal.
Peripheral artery disease is narrowing of the arteries that carry blood down to your legs, usually from plaque building up along the walls. The classic sign is cramping or aching in the calf that starts after a certain walking distance and stops when you rest.
We check your pulses and compare the blood pressure at your ankle with the pressure in your arm, then use ultrasound to locate where the narrowing is. More detailed imaging comes in when we are planning a procedure.
Early disease is treated with a walking program, risk factor control, and medication. When flow is limited enough to threaten the limb or your independence, we open the artery, often with a balloon or a stent through a small puncture, or with a bypass when your anatomy calls for it.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
The things patients ask us most about peripheral artery disease, answered plainly.
Muscles need more blood when they work. A narrowed artery can supply enough at rest but not enough during activity, so the pain arrives at a predictable distance and eases when you stop.
It can be. Wounds need blood flow to close. A foot wound that is not healing should be evaluated soon, because this is the path by which limbs are lost.
For most people, no. Limb loss is the outcome we work to prevent, and it becomes far less likely when the problem is found and treated early.
Supervised walking programs are one of the most effective treatments for early PAD. We will tell you what is appropriate in your case rather than leaving you to guess.
Often yes. The same process that narrows leg arteries can affect the heart and the neck arteries, which is part of why a PAD diagnosis is worth acting on.
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