Peripheral Artery Disease Treatments

Arteries are a high-pressure system that is designed to take oxygenated blood and deliver that blood to the body. Arteries have a muscular wall and do not contain valves. Arteries have their own specific set of diseases and symptoms separate and usually distinct from veins.

These include:

• Narrowing or blockages of vessels

• Enlargement (aneurysms) of vessels

• Blood clots in the vessels Arterial blockages can be present for many reasons. Smoking, high cholesterol and diabetes are some of the major causes.

Symptoms of arterial blockages include:

• Hair loss on the legs

• Cool legs

• Leg pain when walking or at rest (usually in the calf or foot)

• Wounds on the foot that don’t heal

Pain when walking is known as claudication. A classic story is when a patient says: “I can walk about a block, and then my calf starts to hurt. I take a rest for a couple minutes, and then the pain goes away, and I can walk again.”

Historically, treatment of arterial blockages involved surgical bypass with general anesthesia and prolonged recovery. With modern techniques and devices, the vast majority of these cases can now be done in a minimally invasive manner in an outpatient setting with sedation.

Learn more about our services at riaendovascular.com/services/vein-arterial-care/