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Peripheral Arterial Disease of the Legs - Overview
What is peripheral arterial disease of the legs?
Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is narrowing or blockage of arteries that results in poor blood flow to your arms and legs. When you walk or exercise, your leg muscles do not get enough blood and you can get painful cramps.
Peripheral arterial disease is also called peripheral vascular disease. This topic focuses on peripheral arterial disease of the legs, the area where it is most common.
See a picture of
peripheral arterial disease of the legs
.
What causes PAD?
The most common cause is the buildup of plaque on the inside of arteries. Plaque is made of extra cholesterol, calcium, and other material in your blood. Over time, plaque builds up along the inner walls of the arteries, including those that supply blood to your legs.
If plaque builds
up in your arteries, there is less room for blood to flow. Every part of your
body needs blood that is rich in oxygen. But plaque buildup prevents that blood
from flowing freely and starves the muscles and other tissues in the lower
body. See a picture of
peripheral arterial disease of the legs.
This process of plaque buildup usually happens at the same time throughout the body. It is called atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries. If you have this problem in your legs, you most likely will have it in the arteries that supply blood to your heart and brain. This increases your chance of having a heart attack or stroke.
Plaque builds up bit by bit over a lifetime, but symptoms often do not start until after age 65. High cholesterol, high blood pressure, and smoking make you more likely to get atherosclerosis and peripheral arterial disease.
What are the symptoms?
Many people who have PAD do not have any symptoms.
But if you do have symptoms, you may have a tight, aching, or squeezing pain in the calf, thigh, or buttock. This pain, called intermittent claudication, usually happens after you have walked a certain distance. For example, your pain may always start after you have walked a block or two or after a few minutes. The pain goes away if you stop walking. As PAD gets worse, you may have pain in your foot or toe when you are not walking.
How is PAD diagnosed?
Your doctor will talk with you about your symptoms and past health and will do a physical exam. During the exam, your doctor will check your pulse at your groin, behind your knee, on the inner ankle, and on the top of your foot. Your pulse shows the strength of blood flow. An absent or weak pulse in these spots is a sign of PAD. Your doctor may also look at the color of your foot when it is higher than the level of your heart and after exercise. The color of your foot can be a clue to whether enough blood is getting through your arteries.
WebMD Medical Reference from Healthwise
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