Vascular Disease (Peripheral Artery Disease)
What is peripheral artery disease?
Artery blockage in the arm or leg due to atherosclerosis.
Symptoms of peripheral artery disease
Chronic leg pain after walking a certain distance.
Diagnosis of peripheral artery disease
Physical exam and noninvasive arterial Doppler ultrasound.
Treatment for peripheral artery disease
Exercise, medication, angioplasty, stents, bypass surgery.
Dangers of peripheral artery disease
Risks range from leg pain to gangrene (tissue death) requiring amputation.
Why choose NYU for treatment of peripheral artery disease?
NYU’s atherosclerosis and limb salvage experts
Doctors at NYU who treat peripheral artery disease.
What is peripheral artery disease?
Peripheral arterial occlusive disease occurs when plaque builds up within the arteries of the arm or leg (atherosclerosis), causing the artery opening to narrow (stenosis).
Lower extremity arterial disease most commonly causes claudication, or chronic leg pain due to lack of blood flow to the legs.
Lower extremity artery disease increases the risk of gangrene if not properly treated (see below: "Dangers of peripheral artery disease").
Arterial blockage can be diagnosed noninvasively using the arterial Doppler test.
Peripheral artery disease is treated with both surgical and nonsurgical methods (see below: "Treatment for peripheral artery disease"). Effective surgeries include stenting, angioplasty, and arterial bypass.
Vascular surgeons at NYU Medical Center provide highly successful medical treatment for patients with peripheral artery disease, including extraordinary limb salvage outcomes. Treatment is individualized to each patient’s unique vascular health needs (see below: "NYU’s atherosclerosis and limb salvage experts").
Symptoms of peripheral artery disease
The most common symptom of peripheral arterial disease is claudication, or leg pain after walking a certain distance.
This kind of chronic leg pain:
- is caused by inadequate blood flow, and therefore oxygen delivery, to the muscle during exercise
- tends to occur in the same area in the leg (such as the calf)
- is relieved by resting for a few minutes
- recurs at about the same distance when the walking is resumed
- is often associated with a history of smoking or diabetes
Diagnosis of peripheral artery disease
Diagnosis of claudication is made by physical examination by a vascular surgeon and an arterial Doppler test, which is a simple, noninvasive blood pressure measurement at various positions on the leg.
Arterial Doppler tests are conducted in the NYU Non-Invasive Vascular Laboratory.
Treatment for peripheral artery disease
Peripheral arterial disease is often treated with exercise and medication.
Occasionally, further testing (e.g., angiogram) is performed to pinpoint areas of artery blockage.
Depending on the nature of the artery blockage, it may be treated by:
- balloon angioplasty
A minimally invasive endovascular surgery to treat arterial blockages and restore blood flow to organs without large surgical incisions or exposures. - placement of stents in the arteries
Metal mesh tubes, plastic tubes, and fabric tubes are used to hold arteries open and help them heal after angioplasty. - leg bypass surgery
A procedure in which the surgeon creates a new route for blood to travel around an artery blocked by atherosclerosis, restoring blood flow to the leg.
Dangers of peripheral artery disease
Usually artery blockages in the legs only cause pain when walking. However, if left untreated, artery blockages may progress to gangrene (necrosis, or death of tissue) in the toes or foot. In worst cases, limbs and extremities affected by gangrene require amputation.
If diagnosed at an early stage, preventive measures may be taken to avoid worsening of symptoms and amputation.
Surgeons at NYU have achieved a 70–80% success rate of leg salvage in patients scheduled for amputation at another hospital.
Why choose NYU for treatment of peripheral artery disease?
NYU Medical Center’s Division of Vascular Surgery offers the largest team of top-level vascular specialists in New York City.
Members of a leading academic medical center, NYU’s vascular surgeons are deeply committed to finding the most advanced, innovative, proven methods to treat artery blockage.
NYU Medical Center’s vascular surgeons perform all types of artery surgery
NYU’s vascular surgeons have proven success in their outcomes: a 1–2% perioperative complication rate, one of the lowest worldwide, and a 1.5% morbidity rate in preventing stroke by removing plaque from arteries, the lowest in New York state.
NYU’s atherosclerosis and limb salvage experts
NYU Langone Medical Center
550 First Avenue
New York, NY 10016
1-877-4-NYUCVI (698284)
Mark A. Adelman, M.D.
Chief of Vascular Surgery
Neal Cayne, M.D.
Director of the NYU Endovascular Surgery Program
Glenn R. Jacobowitz, M.D.
Vice Chief of the NYU Division of Vascular Surgery / Director of Vascular Surgical Services at Tisch Hospital
Lowell S. Kabnick, M.D.
Director of the NYU Vein Center
Patrick J. Lamparello, M.D.
Vice-Chair of Vascular Surgery / Director of the Vascular Surgery Fellowship Program
Thomas Maldonado, M.D.
Chief of Vascular Surgery, Bellevue Hospital
Firas F. Mussa, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Surgery at the NYU School of Medicine
Thomas S. Riles, M.D.
Associate Dean for Medical Education and Technology / Frank C. Spencer Professor of Surgery
Caron Rockman, M.D.
Director of Medical Education and the Director of Clinical Research for the NYU Division of Vascular Surgery
Frank J. Veith, M.D.
The First U.S. Surgeon to Perform an Endovascular Aneurysm Repair
