Ask a doctor about minimally invasive treatments
If you have peripheral artery disease (PAD), your health care provider may have explained the disease and its treatment options. There are many medical procedures, terms and words you may be hearing about for the first time.
Below is an explanation of many of the procedures. You can download and complete our checklist and use the information below to talk to your doctor about PAD.
Your health care provider may recommend minimally invasive treatment options20 as an alternative to amputation. 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. Angioplasty and atherectomy are types of minimally invasive procedures that your doctor may refer to as “endovascular.” This means they are “inside the blood vessel” procedures. They are now performed more commonly than bypass surgery in the treatment of PAD.32
