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What Your Leg Pain Means
Does your leg hurt or give out when you climb stairs or take a stroll? Pain or fatigue in your buttock or calf may be due to peripheral artery disease. Because this condition reduces blood flow to your lower body, your muscles cramp during activity. There's no magic cure for peripheral artery disease. But, lifestyle changes and medical treatment can help you become more active again and may prevent progression of the disease.
Your Medical Evaluation
Your doctor may suspect peripheral artery disease after hearing about your symptoms of claudication. If your medical history and exam suggest this disease, you may have tests to measure blood flow or to locate a blockage. These tests help your doctor evaluate the severity of your condition.
Your Medical History and Physical Exam
Your medical history and exam often provide enough information for your doctor to diagnose peripheral artery disease. You may be asked about risk factors, as well as how far you can walk, if the pain is worse going uphill, and how you make the pain stop. During the exam, your doctor checks the circulation in your legs. Artery pulses, nerve sensation, and muscle strength may all be tested.
Measuring Blood Flow
You may have tests to measure blood flow. These noninvasive tests do not use needles, dyes, or x-rays.
During a Doppler evaluation, blood pressure readings may be taken along your leg. A Doppler stethoscope is then used to evaluate blood flow at each site.
Duplex imaging bounces sound waves off an artery to produce an image of the vessel. The image shows the size and shape of the artery's passageway, as well as any blockage.
Understanding Arteriography
If earlier tests reveal a severe drop in blood flow and surgery is being considered, you may have an arteriogram (also called an angiogram). Using a special dye that is injected into your lower body, this series of x-rays shows how blood is flowing and provides a detailed image of narrowed or blocked arteries.
Your Treatment Plan
After your medical evaluation, your doctor will discuss a treatment plan with you. In almost every case, treatment is likely to include reducing your risk factors. If your circulation is severely impaired, procedures such as angioplasty or bypass surgery may be recommended.
Angioplasty
Your doctor may recommend angioplasty to widen a narrowed artery or to open a small blockage by pressing the plaque against the artery wall. Following angioplasty, your doctor will see you to make sure the artery is still open. Blood flow in the artery may remain improved for a few years. If the artery becomes blocked again, this procedure may be repeated.
Bypass Surgery
If your symptoms are getting worse and the blockage cannot be treated with angioplasty, your doctor may recommend bypass surgery. This surgery, which requires a hospital stay, can treat blocked arteries in the abdomen or the leg. Using a graft, either a leg vein or a manmade (synthetic) tube, your surgeon creates a path around the artery blockage. Blood flows through this new passage, bypassing the blockage entirely.
Follow Up with Your Doctor
If you go home with stitches or staples, they may be removed at your doctor's office within the next week or two. Your doctor will check how you're healing and feel your pulses during your first follow-up appointment. After you've recovered, visit your doctor every 6 months, or as directed, so your circulation can be monitored. |
