Your health care provider may recommend minimally invasiveIn minimally invasive surgery, surgeons use a variety of techniques to operate with less injury to the body than with open surgery. In general, it is safer than open surgery and allows you to recover faster and heal with less pain and scarring. treatment options²⁰ as an alternative to amputationTo surgically remove all or part of a limb (leg, foot or toe). These are medical procedures that can be less complicated than traditional procedures. In minimally invasive surgery, surgeons use a variety of techniques to operate with less injury to the body than with open surgery.

In general, it is safer than open surgery and allows you to recover faster and heal with less pain and scarring. AngioplastyIn this minimally invasive procedure, a small, hollow tube (catheter) is threaded through a blood vessel to the affected artery. A small balloon on the tip of the catheter is inflated to reopen the artery and flatten the blockage into the artery wall, while at the same time stretching the artery open to increase blood flow. and atherectomyA minimally invasive procedure to open blocked arteries by using a device on the end of a catheter to remove atherosclerotic plaque (a deposit of fat and other substances that accumulate in the lining of the artery wall). are types of minimally invasive procedures that your doctor may refer to as “endovascularThis means “inside blood vessels.” To perform endovascular procedures, surgeons use special technologies and instruments. These procedures require only a small incision or puncture in an artery or vein..” This means they are “inside the blood vessel” procedures. They are now performed more commonly than bypass surgery(Arterial bypass surgery) Your doctor will create a graft bypass using a vessel from another part of the body or a blood vessel made of synthetic fabric. This technique allows blood to flow around – or bypass – the blocked or narrowed artery. in the treatment of PAD.³²