Like the arteries in your heart, the arteries in your legs can narrow and harden over time. This buildup of cholesterol and plaque in the arteries of your extremities is called Peripheral Artery Disease, or PAD. It limits blood flow to the legs and feet and often results in pain on exertion, poor wound healing, and can even cascade to amputation.
Symptoms of PAD can include:
-Pain while walking -- sometimes a sensation of heaviness in the legs, or even a sense of decreasing exercise tolerance
-Cold toes or feet from the temperature drop caused by poor blood flow
-Burning or tingling sensations in the feet or legs due to nerve damage from restricted blood flow
-Changes to the skin on your legs and feet -- loss of hair, dryness, thickening of the skin or toenails, and discoloration such as redness or paleness due to the skin not getting enough nutrients
-A sore or ulcer that won't heal -- again, due to the lack of nutrients getting to the site
-Darkened, even black tissue in the legs or feet --gangrene, a sign that blood-starved cells are actually dying, a cause for amputation
Vincent Varghese, DO, is an interventional cardiologist at Deborah Heart and Lung Center and says it's important to pay attention to symptoms and not dismiss those aches as a normal part of aging, and to have a doctor assess them and other possible clues that circulation in your legs may be impaired.
"If it's enough to limit what you've been doing normally," he explains, "even if it was five years ago that you could walk up the stairs without a problem and now you're struggling and you don't have a diagnosis, it's definitely worth getting looked at."
That's because there's time to develop the best course of treatment once PAD is diagnosed and if caught early enough, limbs are spared and a patient can even return to an active lifestyle.
KYW's Rasa Kaye talks with Dr. Varghese about risk factors for PAD - especially the diabetes connection - and identifying it and treating it, including promising non-invasive therapies available at Deborah.
Are you at risk of developing PAD? Take our quiz at MyPADScore.org. To schedule an appointment, visit DemandDeborah.org or call 609-831-4456.
