Peripheral Artery Disease
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Your Personalized Treatment Plan
Do not limit your treatment options only to the nearest hospital. We offer the most effective, quick and affordable treatment for peripheral artery disease, thanks to the world’s largest hospital network.
Peripheral artery disease (also called peripheral arterial disease) is a common condition in which narrowed arteries reduce blood flow to the arms or legs.
In peripheral artery disease (PAD), the legs or arms — usually the legs — don’t receive enough blood flow to keep up with demand. This may cause leg pain when walking (claudication) and other symptoms. Peripheral artery disease is usually a sign of a buildup of fatty deposits in the arteries (atherosclerosis). Atherosclerosis causes narrowing of the arteries that can reduce blood flow in the legs and, sometimes, the arms.
If plaque or a blood clot narrows or blocks your arteries, blood can’t get through to nourish organs and other tissues. This causes damage ― and eventually death (gangrene) ― to the tissues below the blockage. This happens most often in your toes and feet. PAD can get worse faster in some people more than others. Many other factors matter, including where in your body the plaque forms and your overall health.
Complete Recovery
No Hidden Fees
No Waiting Lists
Leading Surgeons
Private treatment in our hospital network allows you skip waiting lists while at the same time reducing the costs treatment considerably, up to 50% cheaper, in countries that are just a short flight from home. The countries listed below make excellent choices with modern hospitals and well-trained English speaking surgeons.
Our medical consultants will advise you on the best choice for treating peripheral artery disease in one of our leading hospitals. We will evaluate your current condition, expectations and other related factors, and offer you the most suitable option, respecting your privacy and the individual needs of your body and lifestyle. Your health is unique and so should be your solution.
- Berlin
- Zurich
- Vienna
- Paris
- Madrid
- Milan
- Warsaw
- Istanbul
Treatment of Peripheral Artery Disease
For some people with more severe peripheral artery disease, leg pain may still cause problems in daily life, even after a few months of exercise and medications. More advanced peripheral artery disease that’s causing severe pain and limited mobility may require endovascular (minimally invasive) or surgical treatment:
- Angioplasty and stent placement. This procedure is done to open clogged arteries. It can diagnose and treat a blocked vessel at the same time. The surgeon guides a thin, flexible tube (catheter) to the narrowed part of the artery. A tiny balloon is inflated to widen the blocked artery and improve blood flow. A small wire mesh tube (stent) may be placed in the artery to keep the artery open.
- Peripheral artery bypass surgery. The surgeon creates a path around the blocked artery using either a healthy blood vessel from another part of the body or a synthetic one.
- Atherectomy. A minimally invasive procedure healthcare providers use to remove plaque buildup and open narrow or blocked arteries. The procedure helps restore healthy blood flow and relieves symptoms of peripheral artery disease. Different types of blades or use lasers are used to remove plaque:
- Excisional atherectomy: A blade cuts plaque in one direction.
- Laser ablation atherectomy: A laser destroys plaque.
- Orbital atherectomy: A spinning tool works like sandpaper to remove plaque.
- Rotational atherectomy: Tiny blades cut plaque in a circular motion.
Complications of Peripheral Artery Disease
Complications
Types
Causes
Symptoms
Diagnosis
Complications
The typical symptom of PAD is called claudication, a medical term for pain in your leg that starts with walking or exercise and goes away with rest. The pain occurs because your leg muscles aren’t getting enough oxygen.
The dangers of PAD extend well beyond difficulties in walking. Peripheral artery disease increases the risk of getting a nonhealing sore of your legs or feet. In cases of severe PAD, these sores can turn into areas of dead tissue (gangrene) that make it necessary to remove your foot or leg.
Types
The two main types of PVD are functional and organic PVD.
Functional PVD means there’s no physical damage to your blood vessels’ structure. Instead, your vessels widen and narrow in response other factors like brain signals and temperature changes. The narrowing causes blood flow to decrease.
Organic PVD involves changes in blood vessel structure like inflammation, plaques, and tissue damage.
Causes
Atherosclerosis that develops in the arteries of your legs — or, less commonly, your arms — causes peripheral arterial disease. Like atherosclerosis in your heart (coronary) arteries, a collection of fatty plaque in your blood vessel walls causes peripheral vascular disease. As plaque builds up, your blood vessels get narrower and narrower, until they’re blocked.
Tobacco use is the most important risk factor for PAD and its complications. In fact, 80% of people with PAD are people who currently smoke or used to smoke. Tobacco use increases the risk for PAD by 400%. It also brings on PAD symptoms almost 10 years earlier.
Compared with nonsmokers of the same age, people who smoke and have PAD are more likely to:
- Die of heart attack or stroke.
- Have poorer results with bypass surgery procedures on their legs.
- Have a limb amputation.
Regardless of your sex, you’re at risk of developing peripheral arterial disease when you have one or more of these risk factors:
- Using tobacco products (the most potent risk factor).
- Having diabetes.
- Being age 50 and older.
- Having a personal or family history of heart or blood vessel disease.
- Having high blood pressure (hypertension).
- Having high cholesterol (hyperlipidemia).
- Having abdominal obesity.
- Having a blood clotting disorder.
- Having kidney disease (both a risk factor and a consequence of PAD).
Although PAD is a different condition from coronary artery disease, the two are related. People who have one are likely to have the other. A person with PAD has a higher risk of coronary artery disease, heart attack, stroke or a transient ischemic attack (mini-stroke) than someone without peripheral artery disease. A person with heart disease has a 1 in 3 chance of having peripheral artery disease in their legs.
Not surprisingly, the two diseases also share some common risk factors. This is because these risk factors cause the same changes in arteries in your arms and legs as they do in your heart’s arteries.
Symptoms
Many people with peripheral artery disease have mild or no symptoms. Some people have leg pain when walking (claudication).
Claudication symptoms include muscle pain or cramping in the legs or arms that begins during exercise and ends with rest. The pain is most commonly felt in the calf. The pain ranges from mild to severe. Severe leg pain may make it hard to walk or do other types of physical activity.
Other peripheral artery disease symptoms may include:
- Coldness in the lower leg or foot, especially when compared with the other side
- Leg numbness or weakness
- No pulse or a weak pulse in the legs or feet
- Painful cramping in one or both of the hips, thighs or calf muscles after certain activities, such as walking or climbing stairs
- Shiny skin on the legs
- Skin color changes on the legs
- Slower growth of the toenails
- Sores on the toes, feet or legs that won’t heal
- Pain when using the arms, such as aching and cramping when knitting, writing or doing other manual tasks
- Erectile dysfunction
- Hair loss or slower hair growth on the legs
If peripheral artery disease gets worse, pain may occur during rest or when lying down. The pain may interrupt sleep. Hanging the legs over the edge of the bed or walking may temporarily relieve the pain.
Diagnosis
Tests that may be done to diagnose peripheral artery disease include:
- Blood tests. Blood tests are done to check for conditions related to PAD such as high cholesterol, high triglycerides and diabetes.
- Ankle-brachial index (ABI). This is a common test used to diagnose PAD. It compares the blood pressure in the ankle with the blood pressure in the arm. You may be asked to walk on a treadmill. Blood pressure readings may be taken before and immediately after exercising to check the arteries during walking.
- Ultrasound of the legs or feet. This test uses sound waves to see how blood moves through the blood vessels. Doppler ultrasound is a special type of ultrasound used to spot blocked or narrowed arteries.
- Angiography. This test uses X-rays, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans or computerized tomography (CT) scans to look for blockages in the arteries. Before the images are taken, dye (contrast) is injected into a blood vessel. The dye helps the arteries show up more clearly on the test images.
