Peripheral Arterial Disease

PAD has the same pathophysiology as atherosclerosis, and therefore shares many of the same treatment options.

Peripheral Artery Disease

PAD is a circulatory disease affecting the flow of blood to the extremities.

Raynaud’s Syndrome

Raynaud’s disease is a vascular problem affecting the microvascular system. It usually presents as numbness, discoloration, or tingling in the fingers relative to environmental changes such as cold weather.

Buerger’s Disease

Also referred to as Thromboangiitis obliterans. It’s an inflammatory process of the small and medium sized arteries. This condition leads to thrombotic changes, distal ischemia, and superficial thrombophlebitis.

It’s most common in male smokers between the ages of 20 and 40. The main therapeutic goal is to remove tobacco use. Doing this has significant positive outcome in most cases. Must rule out other forms of ischemia first.

The classic symptom is intermittent claudication, a cramping pain in the leg muscles brought on by walking and relieved by rest. As the disease advances, there may be pain at rest, coldness or numbness in the affected limb, weak or absent pulses, poor wound healing, and skin changes. Severe disease can progress to ulceration and gangrene.

• Pulse oximetry
• Ankle-brachial pressure index comparing blood pressure at the ankle and arm
• Palpation of peripheral pulses
• Doppler ultrasound or angiography to locate arterial narrowing

• Atherosclerosis
• Coronary artery disease
• Cerebrovascular disease