Peripheral Artery Disease Treatment:
What is Peripheral Artery Disease?
Peripheral Artery Disease occurs when the buildup present on the walls of blood vessels cause to them get narrow. Generally, it occurs in patients with Type-2 diabetes. These patients are also prone to heart problems and high cholesterol.
As per a report, nearly every third person having diabetes and above the age of 50 suffers from this disease.
According to Dr Vishwas Khichar, PAD is a very serious disease because the PAD patients are on high risk of heart problems such as stroke and heart attack.
He told us that most of the patients don’t even know that they are suffering from this condition, as there are no such severe initial symptoms. But if you observe the symptoms then you must report to the doctor.
Symptoms
- Cramps along with pain in hips.
- Pain in thigh and calf muscles after walking and climbing stairs.
- Numbness and weakness in Leg
- Sore on the toes, along with feet and legs
- Colour change in the legs
- Hair loss on legs plus slower growth of hair
- Decrease in the growth of toenails.
Causes
Atherosclerosis is amongst the most common cause of peripheral artery disease. It is a continuous process in which fats and other fatty materials get build up inside the arteries.
Blood clots are the other common reason for this disease. Limbs injury, inappropriate muscles and ligaments anatomy can also cause this disease
There are certain risk factors among which some are in your control and you can restrain. These are:
- Diabetes
- Smoking
- High Blood Pressure
- Obesity
- Age
- Cholesterol
- Genetic Factors
Diagnosis and Treatment
Initially, you can go for the combination of medication and lifestyle changes, which may be definitely helpful for you in managing PAD symptoms. It will reduce the chances of heart attack and stroke as well.
Some of the lifestyle changes you can adopt are:
- If you smoke then you need to quit smoking
- Eating a balanced diet for maintaining your glucose levels and weight
- Try to reduce the cholesterol, saturated fats, and sodium for lowering the blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
- Do a moderate level of exercises regularly.
- Keep checkup of your blood pressure regularly, and take medicines as prescribed by your doctor
After, these lifestyle changes, the doctor advised you to go for the treatment, then before considering the open surgery, you must give a chance for other treatments as well.
Dr Vishwas Khichar, a well-known interventional radiologist in Sikar, Rajasthan, recommends a minimally invasive procedure for the PAD treatment. According to him, there are multiple advantages of choosing minimally invasive treatment over traditional surgery such as:
- Fewer chances of infection
- No general anaesthesia required (local anaesthesia is given)
- Much less pain than traditional surgery
- Faster recovery
In the minimally invasive procedure, the doctor will first do the Angiography to diagnose the location and then will do the Angioplasty.
Dr Vishwas has a vast experience in the complete diagnosis and treatment process of peripheral artery disease using the latest minimally invasive procedures.
Angioplasty: In angioplasty, the radiologist will use a catheter (a thin tube) and will insert it into the affected artery. After navigating to the correct position, the radiologist will insert the stents to keep the arteries, which in turn will help in blood flow.