Peripheral Vascular Disease (Peripheral Artery Disease) - Symptoms, Therapy and Treatment of Peripheral Vascular Disease
What is Peripheral Vascular Disease?
Peripheral vascular disease (PVD), also known as peripheral arterial disease (PAD), is a disease of the circulation that often affects the legs but can involve many other parts of the body. People with PVD have areas of narrowing or blockages of their arteries which prevent adequate circulation in the affected body part.
Facts about Peripheral Vascular Disease
About 10 million persons in the United States are afflicted with this disease every year. Tobacco use, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes increase an individuals risk for developing PVD. Peripheral vascular disease is the medical name of the group of medical problems that causes poor circulation to the toes, feet and legs. One of the major diseases in this group is called arteriosclerosis.
Types of Peripheral Vascular Disease
There are two types of peripheral vascular disease. The first type is peripheral arterial disease (PAD), which refers to diseased peripheral arteries. Peripheral arterial disease is a type of atherosclerosis , in which the arteries become hardened and narrowed. Peripheral artery disease is often named after the artery that is affected.
Symptoms of peripheral vascular disease
- Cramping pains to the legs that occur most frequently after exercise or activity (claudication).
- The loss of leg hair, coolness of the feet, and diminished or absent pulses.
- Sudden severe leg pain without provocation, a cold foot, mottling or bluish discoloration to the foot,
- Absence of pulses indicates an acute vascular occlusion of the diseased artery
How is peripheral artery disease diagnosed?
Techniques used to diagnose PAD include a medical history, physical exam, ultrasound, X-ray angiography and magnetic resonance imaging angiography (MRA).
Treatment for peripheral vascular disease
Lifestyle changes such as exercise and smoking cessation are usually the first line of defense against PVD. Regular exercise is especially helpful in increasing the distance that a person can walk before cramping occurs. In addition, new medications have become available recently which may help increase walking distance.
Surgical placement of a bypass graft (synthetic blood vessel substitute or vein graft) remains the only curative treatment. Procedures similar to angioplasty in the coronary arteries are starting to be applied by specially trained Radiologists in the treatment of lower extremity peripheral vascular disease.
The untreated vascular occlusion can result in gangrene (tissue death due to inadequate blood supply) of the extremity below the occusion.
Self Help for Peripheral Vascular Disease
- Control risk factors for peripheral vascular disease such as obesity, smoking, diabetes, and high blood pressure.
- Patient should walk until pain appears, rest until the pain disappears, and then resume walking. The amount of walking a patient can do should increase gradually as the symptoms improve.
- Eat a diet that is low in fat and cholesterol.
- Exercise is essential to treating this disease.
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