Description
Meet Dr. Venkat Kalapatapu, professor and chief of vascular surgery at UAMS Health.
In this video, Dr. Kalapatapu explains peripheral arterial disease — what it is, how it progresses, and the full range of treatment options available to help patients improve blood flow and quality of life.
Peripheral arterial disease, or PAD, is caused by blockages in the blood vessels that supply the legs. Key risk factors include smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes, diet, and genetics. As blockages worsen, patients typically first notice pain in the legs while walking. If left unaddressed, the distance a patient can comfortably walk grows shorter over time. In more advanced stages, PAD can cause constant pain in the feet, non-healing ulcers on the toes, or dark discoloration of the toes — a condition known as gangrene.
Treatment begins with lifestyle changes and medications to address the underlying risk factors — stopping smoking, eating healthier, controlling diabetes and blood pressure, and starting medications such as aspirin and cholesterol-lowering drugs. These fundamentals apply regardless of what additional interventions may be needed.
For more advanced disease, minimally invasive procedures are available, including balloon and stent treatments performed through a small needle puncture in the groin under X-ray guidance. When necessary, open surgical options such as removing the blockage directly or performing bypass surgery — similar to heart bypass but in the leg — are also available.
Learn more about the signs of PAD and the comprehensive vascular care available at UAMS Health.
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Transcript
PAD, or peripheral arterial disease, is essentially blockages that develop in the blood vessels supplying the legs.
These blockages can occur for various reasons. Some of the major contributing factors include smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes, diet, and to some extent genetics.
Whatever the cause, as these blockages worsen, patients often begin to notice pain in the legs while walking. If ignored, the distance they can walk comfortably grows shorter and shorter, affecting their quality of life. If that is also ignored, continued progression of the disease leads to pain all the time in the feet, and eventually patients may notice ulcers on the toes or dark discoloration of the toes — what we call gangrene.
Treatment for PAD starts with lifestyle changes — addressing the risk factors that caused it in the first place. That means working on stopping smoking, eating healthier, controlling diabetes, and controlling blood pressure. We then add medications, starting with something as simple as a baby aspirin and progressing to medications that control cholesterol levels. These are the fundamentals of treating peripheral arterial disease, regardless of any procedures that may also be needed.
Depending on the severity of the disease, the next step involves interventional procedures. That may include a small needle puncture in the groin, through which we pass wires and balloons under X-ray guidance to open blockages using balloons, stents, or other techniques to improve blood flow. The goal of all of these procedures is the same — to restore blood flow so that patients are no longer experiencing the symptoms that brought them in.
The final option is open surgery, which may involve removing the blockage directly or performing bypass surgery — similar to bypass surgery of the heart, but performed in the leg.
