Healing Vascular Disease
Vascular disease is a broad category of conditions and disorders that affect the body’s circulatory system outside of the heart. Treatment of varicose veins or blocked arteries throughout the body are among the most common vascular therapies.
Vascular procedures often accompany and are critically important to cardiac surgery. The successful harvesting of a healthy vein from a leg or arm to be used in bypass surgery is a common example of the partnership between cardiac and vascular specialties.
Peripheral arterial disease (PAD)
Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is one
of the most common types of vascular disease and affects an estimated 8 to 10
million people in the United States. Unfortunately, awareness of the condition
is extremely low. PAD is a disease in which the arteries that carry blood to the
arms or legs become narrow or clogged, interfering with the normal flow of blood
and increasing risk of heart attack, stroke and loss of limbs.
The most
common cause of PAD is atherosclerosis (often called hardening of the arteries).
Atherosclerosis is a gradual process in which cholesterol and scar tissue build
up forms a plaque that clogs the blood vessels. Blood clots that lodge in the
arteries and restrict blood flow may also cause PAD.
Diagnosing and treating PAD
The most common test for PAD is the ankle-brachial index
(ABI). This is a simple and painless exam. Your doctor uses a regular blood
pressure cuff and a special ultrasound stethoscope, called a doppler, to measure
the ratio of blood pressure in your feet and arms. Treatment options for PAD include:
Angioplasty
The cardiac
surgeon places a balloon in the blood vessel at the site of the blockage. It
inflates to open the blood vessel.
Stents
The cardiac surgeon
inserts a tiny metal cylinder, or stent, into the clogged vessel to act like
scaffolding and hold it open.
Thrombolytic therapy
Clot-busting
drugs attack blockages and disperse them.
Stent-grafts
The cardiac
surgeon inserts a stent covered with synthetic fabric into the blood vessels to
bypass diseased arteries.
Sometimes open surgery is required to remove
blockages from arteries or to bypass the clogged area.
