About Peripheral Heart Disease

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. There are different types of heart disease, each with it's own symptoms and risks. Peripheral heart disease is a huge risk factor for heart attack and stroke. It is more common in African-Americans than any other ethnic or racial group.

The Facts

• Peripheral heart disease is also known as peripheral vascular disease, peripheral arterial disease or PAD. This disease affects the blood vessels outside the brain and heart, causing them to narrow and restricting the blood flow to the arms, legs, kidneys or stomach. The part of the body that is most often affected by PAD is the legs. Peripheral heart disease is often a sign of widespread atherosclerosis, or the accumulation of fatty deposits in the arteries.

Symptoms

• If you are suffering from peripheral heart disease, you may experience mild symptoms or even be symptom free. According to the Mayo Clinic, 1 in 10 people with PAD complain of leg pain when walking. (See Reference 1). This pain often goes away after a few minutes of rest. The symptoms of peripheral heart disease will vary according to the location of the clogged artery. These symptoms include painful cramps in your thighs, hips, or calves after climbing stairs or walking, leg numbness and weakness, sores on your toes, legs or feet that don't seem to heal, coldness in your foot or lower leg, hair loss on your feet and legs, change in color in your legs and changes in toenails.

Causes

• Fatty deposits called plaques are the main cause of peripheral heart disease. This is because the plaques cause the blood vessels to narrow and restrict blood flow to your limbs. Other, less common causes of peripheral heart disease are infection, blood clots in your arteries, injury to your limbs and unusual anatomy of your muscles and ligaments. Risk factors that contribute to PAD are diabetes, smoking, obesity, high blood pressure, increasing age, high cholesterol, family history of heart disease, excess levels of C-reactive protein and excess levels of homocysteine.

Diagnosis

• If your doctor suspects that you have peripheral heart disease, he will likely do a physical exam as the first step in diagnosis. The most common test for PAD is the ankle-brachial index, a test that compares the blood pressure in your ankle with the blood pressure in your arm. Other tests that your doctor might perform include ultrasound, angiography and blood tests to check the levels of your cholesterol, homocysteine and C-reactive protein.

Treatment

• The first step in the treatment for peripheral heart disease is to manage your symptoms. This way you can get back to your normal activities without pain getting in your way. The second step is to stop the progression of plaque buildup in your arteries, therefore reducing your risk for a heart attack or stroke. Sometimes PAD can be treated by changes you make in your lifestyle, such as quitting smoking. If changing your lifestyle doesn't help your condition, your doctor might prescribe medicine to lower your blood pressure, prevent blood clots, lower your cholesterol and control your pain. If your particular case is stubborn and doesn't respond to the other treatments, angioplasty or surgery may be needed. More than likely, your doctor will recommend a supervised exercise plan to go along with your treatment.