Lower Limbs Obstructive Arterial Disease

Oxygenation of blood supply in legs and feet create obstructive arterial disease. It occurs due to the sudden obstruction of the artery. The initial phase of this dreaded disease makes the patients feel acute pain while walking. On a later stage the arteries get more damaged, due to the degeneration of tissues. This condition on worsening creates scenarios for amputation of the affected limb.

Arterial Disease occurs due to the following multiple factors:

• Genetics
• Arterial hypertension
• Diabetes mellitus
• Smoking
• Abnormal levels of cholesterol
• Obesity
• Lack of exercise

The instigation of arterial diseases is due to amalgamation of plaques in the inner wall of arteries. The disease is progressive and at the preliminary level the blocks are not felt but eventually it causes pain calf muscles when the patient try to walk long distances. With further narrowing of arteries the patients starts getting pain in shorter distances. Finally the stage comes when the patient is only in high pain and is at constant risk of death from wounds due to cellular activity. In this scenario, amputation is suggested to save the patient from a certain death. The degeneration of the symptom of intermittent claudification to complete inactivity causes high pain for the patient making him suffer.

This syndrome also occurs due to clot blocking in the blood flow. In this high risk scenario it is must to treat the patients at the earliest with stent implantation or angioplasty.

Patients suffering from this disease will be advised arterial Doppler technique to evaluate the exact amount of blood flow in the leg arteries and initially would be subscribed medication for the predicament. The prescribed medication would restrict the progression to certain levels but patients inhabited with Diabetes mellitus would have to undergo periodic tests as the patient is always in risk from silent vascular diseases.

Depending on the severity of the obstruction, a digital arteriography would be advised by the doctor. In this technique, the specialist will be able to have better visual display of the patient’s arterial vessels and would be able to create strategies to counter the obstructions. The modus-operandi of this procedure is to puncture the femoral artery at the groin level under local anesthesia. The next step is to insert a catheter and inject contrasts in the arteries. This 20 minute procedure is not all painful and has minimal chances of complications.