PVD is associated with significant cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, with a high rate of fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular events such as MI, stroke, and progressive ischemic end-organ dysfunction.
Since atherosclerosis is the most common cause of PVD, patients with PVD have a rate of cardiovascular mortality that is 3 to 5 times higher than age-matched controls. The cardiac mortality in symptomatic PVD is estimated to be 50% at 10 years. The reduction in quality of life from global vasculopathy in many patients can thus be significant.
How is Peripheral Vascular Disease Diagnosed?
The blood pressure in the pedal artery divided by the higher of two blood pressures in the brachial arteries, constitutes the ABI (Ankle Brachial Index), which is the basis for diagnosing and risk stratifying patients with peripheral vascular disease.
A normal ABI is >1.0
Mild PVD is characterized by an ABI of 0.80-0.99
Moderate PVD is characterized by an ABI of 0.50-0.79
In severe PVD, the resting ABI is usually less than 0.50
The test is simple to perform and has great prognostic value in the management of these patients.
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What are the Symptoms of Peripheral Vascular Disease?
Recent studies suggest that only 11% of patients with confirmed diagnosis of PVD had symptoms of classic claudication. There is a large pool of data to suggest that up to 50% of patients with PVD experience no symptoms at all.
The classic symptoms of claudication, or leg pain with ambulation, include: onset of pain with exertion, crampy, achy/burning sensation in the muscles of the calf or thigh, relief of pain with rest, and some measure of reproducibility of symptoms at specified distances on level ground.
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