Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD)

A circulatory condition in which blood vessels are narrowed and lessen blood flow to the limbs.
PAD and PVD refers to the build-up of atherosclerotic plaque (fatty deposits and calcium building up in walls of arteries).

The arteries in the legs are more commonly affected.

• Claudication (pain while walking)
• Pain at rest in feet or toes
• Painful cramping in either of your hips, thighs, calf muscles after walking or climbing stairs
• Leg numbness or weakness
• Coldness in your lower leg or foot
• Sores on your toes, feet, or legs 
• Legs and feet have no pulse or weak pulse
• Erectile dysfunction in men
• Pain when using your arm such as aching, cramping when knitting, writing, or other manual tasks

If you have the above mentioned symptoms, book your appointment now

• Regardless of whether you have symptoms, you need to be screened
• If you are above 65 years
• Overage 50 and have a history of diabetes/smoking
• Underage 50 and have diabetes and other peripheral artery infection rest factors such as obesity, or high blood pressure

1. Critical Limb Ischemia
Occurs when injuries and diseases progress due to tissue death sometimes requiring amputation of the affected limb.

2.Stroke and heart attack
The atherosclerotic development isn’t limited to your legs. It may obstruct the supply of blood to the heart and in the brain.

• Physical Exam - Your Doctor can check for signs of PAD
• Ankle - Brachial Index
• This is the normal test used to diagnose PAD, it compares the blood pressure of the ankle with the arm
• Ultrasound Doppler, USG checks for the blood flow and assists to diagnose PAD
• Angiography - With a dye injected into your blood vessels, helps with checking for blood flow in arteries

In the procedure, a catheter is threaded through a blood vessel to the affected artery. There a small balloon at the tip of the catheter is expanded to flatten the plaque into the artery wall and reopen the artery while stretching the artery open to increase blood flow.

A Stent may be placed (mesh tube) in the artery to help keep it open.

A Thrombectomy is an innovative surgical procedure to eliminate blood clots from arteries and veins. Blood clots can distract the normal flow of blood to an area of the body, causing life-warning conditions such as pulmonary embolism or an acute stroke.

During a thrombectomy surgery, the surgeon will insert a catheter into the patient’s blood vessel to eliminate the blockage and restore blood flow to the affected region.

Depending on the location of the clot and the severity of the blockage, quick treatment is often crucial. In instances of a stroke, for example, as many as two million brain cells can die for every minute the brain is denied blood.

Often, long segment blockage or multilevel blockages are better dealt with by surgical bypass. Surgical bypass can be performed by using the patient's own vein or a synthetic graft and can be performed from the abdomen to the foot depending on the level and extent of arterial blockage.