Vascular and Vein Care
We will partner with your primary care provider, podiatrist and wound care professional to provide:
- Amputation prevention
- Carotid artery disease
- Critical Limb Ischemia (CLI)
- Leg and foot ulcer
- Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT), blood clot in the leg or legs
- Discoloration of legs
- Leg pain
- Leg swelling
- Limb salvage
- Mesenteric ischemia (blockage in the arteries that supply the stomach)
- Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD)
- Renal artery stenosis
- Varicose veins and venous insufficiency
- Venous compression/May-Thurner Syndrome
Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD)
Peripheral artery disease (also called peripheral arterial disease or peripheral vascular disease, PVD) is a common circulation problem. PAD occurs when the blood vessels (arteries) that carry blood from your heart to your neck, arms, stomach or legs become narrowed or blocked. When the arteries have blockage, you don’t get enough blood flow to the affected area. This results in symptoms such as claudication, or leg pain when walking.
PAD Symptoms
- Claudication: Cramping or aching in your hip, thigh or calf muscles after certain activities, such as walking or climbing stairs
- Leg numbness or weakness
- Leg coolness
- Sores on your toes, feet or legs that won’t heal
- Skin discoloration on your legs and/or feet
- No pulse or a weak pulse in your legs or feet
- Erectile dysfunction in men
If PAD gets worse, discomfort may even occur when you’re at rest or lying down. This is known as ischemic rest pain and may be bad enough to disrupt your sleep. Hanging your legs over the edge of your bed or walking around your room may help to take the discomfort away.
Risk Factors
Factors that increase your risk of developing PAD include:
- Chronic Kidney Disease
- Smoking
- Diabetes
- High blood pressure
- High cholesterol
- Age > 50
- A family history of PAD, PVD, heart disease or stroke
Complications
- Critical limb ischemia (CLI). This condition occurs when open sores or wounds on your legs and/or feet don’t heal due to lack of circulation, which is known as ischemia. CLI frequently starts after an injury to your legs or feet or because of an infection. CLI can progress to tissue loss and/or gangrene, partial foot amputation or loss of your entire limb, either above or below the knee amputation.
Treatment Options
- Medicine: medications like aspirin and cholesterol lowering medicines are used to prevent blood clots from forming inside the arteries and to decrease the inflammation in the arteries.
- Endovascular procedures: Blockages in the arteries can often be cleared or made better by an endovascular procedure. Tools used to clear blockage are inserted into the body through a small tube in an artery in the arm, groin or foot. In most cases, this is a safer option than working through an insertion in the groin, and results in quicker recovery.
- Balloon angioplasty: A balloon in inserted into the artery through a blockage and then inflated to clear the blockage. The balloon is then removed from the body. Some balloons are coated with types of medication that stick to the artery and prevent the blockage from returning.
- Atherectomy: Multiple atherectomy or “roto-rooter” devices are available and can be used to clear out the plaque and blockage in arteries by mechanical means, including a drill or laser.
- Stents: Sometimes metal coils called stents are placed permanently into the artery after balloon angioplasty to help support the artery and prevent it from closing.
Second opinions: It can often be helpful to obtain more than one opinion when deciding what treatment option is best for you – especially if you are at risk of losing a part or all of your limb. Treatment options can vary depending on the physician’s specific areas of expertise.
