|
Silent Danger
|
|
How a little-known condition—PAD—can boost heart attack and stroke risk
|
By Leslie Pepper
|
MediZine's Healthy Living First Quarter 2007
|
 |
MOST OF US know many of the risks for heart disease and stroke, but there’s a condition you may not have heard of that, according to the American Heart Association, can raise your risk for heart attack or stroke significantly. It’s called peripheral arterial disease (PAD), and it affects 8 to 12 million Americans.
Arteries supply oxygenated blood to various parts of the body; different types of arteries have different jobs. Peripheral arteries supply blood to the extremities. PAD occurs when plaque builds up in the walls of those arteries and blood doesn’t circulate well to the legs and feet.
The first symptom may be pain in the legs, buttocks and feet while walking. “The oxygen demand on the arteries is relatively low when you’re at rest, so symptoms go away with rest,” says Mary M. McDermott, M.D., associate professor of medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. Other symptoms include leg numbness or weakness, cold legs or feet, or sores on toes, feet or legs that don’t heal.
But, notes Heather L. Gornik, M.D., medical director of the Non-Invasive Vascular Laboratory at the Cleveland Clinic, “A full third of patients with PAD have no leg pain at all.” If you’re over 70, have diabetes, or smoke and are over 50, you’re at a higher risk for PAD, so ask your doctor about testing.
To diagnose PAD, your doctor will check the blood pressure and pulses in your legs. He or she may order an ankle-brachial index test, which uses a small ultrasound device called a Doppler to compare the blood pressure in your feet to that in your arms. If the test reveals an abnormal ratio you may need further testing, such as a duplex ultrasound, CAT scan or MRI.
|
|
|
|
|
|