Partner With Your Doctor for PADPeripheral Artery Disease, a potentially life threatening disease where plaque, like calcium, builds up along blood vessel walls, narrowing the arteries and reducing blood flow to the legs and feet. Treatment Options

You’ve suspected for a while that your pain is more than just getting older. Wounds won’t heal. Your skin’s discolored. Maybe you’re experiencing numbness or even burning in your legs and feet.

You might have peripheral arterial disease (PAD). This serious condition can lead to amputationTo surgically remove all or part of a limb (leg, foot or toe) or worse, if left untreated. Fortunately, there are a variety of treatment options available for PAD — from less invasive to more invasive. It’s important to have your doctor or specialist provide a diagnosis early.

Don’t hesitate and suffer with the symptoms in silence. Talk to and partner with your doctor to explore all available treatment options.

The PAD Spectrum of Care

Your doctor or PAD specialist will consider your symptoms comprehensively, evaluate your ankle-brachial indexThis is the ratio of the systolic blood pressure (SBP) measured at the ankle to that measured in the arm artery. It is sometimes also called the ankle-arm index. (ABI) results and your overall health. Then they will determine possible treatment strategies. If you receive a PAD diagnosis, your treatment plan may include one or more of the following approaches:

Non-surgical Treatments

• The least-invasive method for treating PAD is through lifestyle modifications.³⁴ These include stopping smoking, managing your diet and exercising regularly.
• In addition, your doctor may prescribe a supervised exercise therapy plan with a healthcare provider before considering medical procedures.
• Your doctor may also prescribe medications to supplement lifestyle changes.⁸ Medicine can help lower high cholesterol and high blood pressure, prevent formation of blood clots and increase mobility while decreasing pain during walks.

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. Treatments

For more advance cases of PAD, your healthcare provider may recommend minimally invasive treatment options²⁰ that are less complicated and safer than open surgery.

• 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., stenting 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 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. procedures where small catheters are inserted into an arteryArteries are blood vessels that carry oxygen-rich blood to your heart and other parts of your body. and maneuvered to the area of blockage where treatment then occurs. Doctors now perform these procedures 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. for PAD.³²
  • In angioplasties, doctors insert a small balloon that inflates to reopen an artery.
  • During an atherectomy, a physician removes plaque buildup in arteriesArteries are blood vessels that carry blood to your heart and other parts of your body. using a catheter.
  • Both procedures may be followed by placement of stents to keep the artery open.

Invasive Procedures 

• Arterial bypass surgeryYour 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. is a technique in which the surgeon uses a blood vessel or synthetic vessel to create a new path around a blocked artery. As with minimally invasive treatments, doctors can perform an arterial bypass even if your PAD has developed into critical limb ischemiaAlso potentially known as CLI, the most severe and deadly form of peripheral artery disease. (CLI)¹⁶ — the worst form of PAD.⁵
• Amputation — the removal of a leg, foot or toe — should be the last option after all other forms of treatment are considered.

See the entire treatment spectrum below. You can use it as a reference when discussing treatment options with your doctor.

For More Information

 Discuss your symptoms with your doctor or PAD specialist to determine if you have peripheral artery diseasePeripheral artery disease (PAD) is a disease in which plaque builds up in the arteries that carry blood to your head, organs, and limbs. Plaque is made up of fat, cholesterol, calcium, fibrous tissue, and other substances in the blood.. Then determine the best treatment plan for you. There is hope!

To get a second opinion on your PAD diagnosis, please use CSI’s Find a Doctor tool to locate a PAD specialist near you.