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Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD)  

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a blood flow problem in the arteries, especially those in the legs. Arteries carry blood from the heart to the muscles and organs throughout your body. When you have diseased arteries, they become narrow or blocked. The most common cause of narrow or blocked arteries is the buildup of fatty deposits inside them called atherosclerosis.

In PAD, your arms, and more commonly your legs don’t get enough blood flow. The most common complaint of people who have PAD is Claudication.

Claudication

Claudication is pain in the calf, thigh or hip muscle that occurs after you have walked a certain distance, such as a block or two. The pain stops after you rest for a while. Each time the pain occurs, it takes about the same amount of time for the pain to go away after you stop walking.

PAD and Claudication Relationship

Claudication occurs because not enough blood is flowing to a muscle you are actively using. PAD can cause the artery that normally supplies blood to the muscle to grow narrow so that less blood can flow through the artery. When you're resting, enough blood flows to the muscle to meet the needs of the muscle. However, when you walk, the working muscle needs more blood. The narrowed artery may not let enough blood through.

Risk factors for Claudication and PAD include high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, cigarette smoking and older age. Claudication is also more likely in people who already have atherosclerosis in other arteries, such as the arteries in the heart or brain. People with Claudication may have already had heart attacks or strokes.

Tests to Verify PAD or Claudication

Your doctor may suspect that your arteries have narrowed and will check the pulses in arteries in your legs and feet. Your doctor will listen to the blood flow with a stethoscope or a small Doppler device. Your doctor may hear a noise, called a bruit, which can be a warning that there is a narrowed area in the artery. Blood pressure in your ankles can also be compared to blood pressure in your arms. This test is called an ankle-brachial index (ABI).  Your doctor may do some other tests to look into possible PAD.

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