Peripheral Arterial Disease
The femoral, popliteal and tibial arteries supply the legs with oxygenated blood.
A disruption in the blood supply to the legs can cause pain while walking, skin ulcers or gangrene.
Our Services
Arterial
Procedures
Standard open arterial surgical procedures to repair or reconstruct blood flow to extremities.
Femoropopliteal bypass
Femoral endarterectomy
Femoropopliteal thrombectomy
Femorotibial bypass
Endovascular
Procedures
These less invasive procedures, are the preferred technique and is often considered as a first line strategy.
Angiooplasty with / or without stent of
Superficial femoral artery
Popliteal artery
Tibial arteries
Peripheral arterial catheter directed thrombolysis
Hybrid
Procedures
Combined endovascular and opens surgical procedures are selectively utilised to repair or restore blood flow to the extremities.
Femoral endarterectomy with peripheral angioplasty
Femoropopliteal thrombectomy with peripheral angioplasty with /or without stent
Peripheral Arterial Disease
Your arteries carry blood rich in oxygen and nutrients from your heart to the rest of your body. When the arteries in your legs become blocked, your legs do not receive enough blood or oxygen and you may have a condition called leg artery disease. Leg artery disease can cause discomfort or pain when you walk. The pain can occur in your hips, buttocks, thighs, knees, shins, or upper feet. Leg artery disease is considered a type of peripheral arterial disease because it affects arteries that carry blood away from your heart to your limbs. You are more likely to develop leg artery disease as you age. One in 3 people (33%) age 70 or older has leg artery disease. Smoking and / or diabetes increases your chances of developing the disease sooner.
The aorta is the largest artery in your body, and it carries blood away from your heart. Just beneath your belly button in your abdomen, the aorta splits into the two iliac arteries, which carry blood into each leg. When the iliac arteries reach your groin, they split again to become the femoral arteries. Many smaller arteries branch from your femoral arteries to take blood down to your toes.
Your arteries are normally smooth and unobstructed on the inside but, as you age, they can become blocked through a process called atherosclerosis, which means hardening of the arteries. As you age, a sticky substance called plaque can build up in the walls of your arteries. Plaque is made up of cholesterol, calcium, and fibrous tissue. As more plaque builds up, your arteries narrow and stiffen. Eventually, enough plaque builds up to reduce blood flow to your leg arteries. When this happens, your leg does not receive the oxygen it needs. Physicians call this leg artery disease or peripheral arterial disease (PAD). You may feel well (asymptomatic) and still have leg artery disease or similar blockages in other arteries to the heart (ischaemic heart disease) or brain (cerebrovascular disease). It is important to treat this disease not only because it may place you at a greater risk for limb loss but also for having a heart attack or stroke.
Symptoms
You may not feel any symptoms from leg artery disease at first. The most common symptom is intermittent claudication (IC). IC is discomfort or pain in your legs that happens when you walk and goes away when you rest. You may not always feel pain; instead you may feel a tightness, heaviness, cramping, or weakness in your leg while exercising. IC often occurs more quickly if you walk uphill or up a flight of stairs. Over time, you may begin to feel IC at shorter walking distances. Only about 50 percent of the people with leg artery disease have blockages severe enough to experience IC.
Critical limb ischaemia is a symptom that you may experience if you have advanced leg artery disease. This occurs when your legs do not get enough oxygen when you are resting. With critical limb ischaemia, you may experience pain in your feet or in your toes even when you are not walking (rest pain).
In severe leg artery disease, you may develop painful sores on your toes or feet. If the circulation in your leg does not improve, these ulcers can start as dry, gray, or black sores, and become dead tissue (called gangrene).
Causes
Atherosclerosis causes leg artery disease. As you get older, your risk of developing leg artery disease increases. People older than age 50 have an increased risk of developing the disease, and men have a greater risk than women. Other factors that increase your chances of developing the disease include:
Smoking
Diabetes
High blood pressure
High cholesterol or triglycerides
High levels of homocysteine, an amino acid in your blood
Weighing over 30 percent more than your ideal weight
Tests
First your physician asks you questions about your general health, medical history, and symptoms. In addition, your physician conducts a physical exam. Together these are known as a patient history and exam. As part of your history and exam, your physician will ask you if you smoke or have high blood pressure. Your physician will also want to know when your symptoms occur and how often. As part of the physical exam, your physician will conduct pulse tests, which measure the strength of your pulse in arteries behind your knees and feet.
After your exam, if your physician suspects leg artery disease, he or she will perform tests, such as:
Ankle-brachial pressure index (ABPI), which compares the blood pressure in your arms and legs
Blood tests for cholesterol or other markers for artery disease
To better understand the extent of your leg artery disease, your physician may also recommend duplex ultrasound, pulse volume recording, magnetic resonance angiography (MRA), or angiography.
Duplex ultrasound uses high-frequency sound waves to measure real-time blood flow and detect blockages or other abnormalities in the structure of your blood vessels
Pulse volume recording measures the volume of blood at various points in the legs using an arm blood pressure cuff and a Doppler probe
MRA uses magnetic fields and radio waves to show blockages inside your arteries
Angiography produces x-ray pictures of the blood vessels in your legs using a contrast dye to highlight your arteries. Physicians usually reserve angiography for people with more severe forms of leg artery disease
Treatment Options
Optimal Medical Therapy
Your physician may also recommend medication to treat conditions that worsen or complicate leg artery disease. These medications may include cholesterol- or blood pressure-lowering drugs. You may also need to take medications that reduce blood clotting to minimise the chances of clots blocking your narrowed arteries. If you do not have a disqualifying medical condition, such as heart failure, your physician may also prescribe pentoxifylline, which can improve the distance you are able to walk without discomfort or pain. Other drugs your physician may prescribe include aspirin and clopidogrel, either of which can decrease your chances of developing blood clots.
Exercising and walking regularly, for instance walking at least 30 minutes 3 times each week, may help improve your symptoms
Endovascular
In some advanced cases of leg artery disease, your physician may recommend angioplasty and stenting. This procedure is not as invasive as surgery. In an angioplasty, your physician inserts a long, thin, flexible tube called a catheter into a small puncture over an artery in your arm or groin. The catheter is guided through your arteries to the blocked area. Once in place, a special balloon, which is attached to the catheter, is inflated and deflated. The balloon pushes the plaque in your artery against your artery walls, widening the vessel. Your vascular surgeon may then place a tiny mesh-metal tube, called a stent, into the narrowed area of your artery to keep it open. The stent remains permanently in your artery. After this procedure, blood flows more freely through your artery.
Surgery
Endarterectomy
An endarterectomy is a way for your surgeon to remove the plaque from your artery. To perform an endarterectomy, your vascular surgeon makes an incision in your leg and removes the plaque contained in the inner lining of the diseased artery. This leaves a wide-open artery and restores blood flow through your leg artery
Bypass Surgery
Bypass surgery creates a detour around a narrowed, or blocked, section of a leg artery. To create this bypass, your vascular surgeon uses one of your veins or a tube made from man-made materials. Your vascular surgeon attaches the bypass above and below the area that is blocked. This creates a new path for your blood to flow to your leg tissues.
Amputation
In extreme cases, especially if your leg has gangrene, your surgeon may recommend amputating your lower leg or foot. Amputation is a treatment of last resort. Vascular surgeons usually only perform it when the circulation in your leg is severely reduced and cannot be improved by the methods discussed already. More than 90 percent of patients with gangrene who are seen by vascular specialists can avoid amputation or have it limited to a small portion of the foot or toes.
General Guidelines
Lifestyle changes that help you manage your leg artery disease include:
Managing diabetes by maintaining healthy blood sugar level
Lowering high cholesterol
Lowering high blood pressure
Smoking cessation
Eating foods low in saturated fats and calories
Maintaining your ideal body weight
Exercising and walking regularly, for instance walking at least 30 minutes 3 times each week
If you have any problems with any of these conditions, please contact your General Practitioner, or your Vascular Surgeon. If you live in Pretoria and have not seen a Vascular Surgeon before, you are more than welcome to contact my rooms for a formal consultation.
Gregory Weir Vascular Surgery
The purpose of this web site is to offer Dr Weir’s patients and their families access to information regarding vascular disease in general as well as specific information on certain disease processes. The information on this site does not necessarily apply to all patients with the same diagnosis. If you are not a patient of Dr Weir, please do not regard the information on this website as a substitute for a thorough assessment by a qualified Vascular Surgeon. If in doubt, consult your doctor.
CONSULTATION Rooms
Vascular & Hyperbaric Unit, Life Eugene Marais Hospital, Pretoria