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Leg Bypass To Prevent Amputation

If your legs pain while walking, this may be the first indicator of a leg attack, known in medical terminology as Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD).

Arteries in the body can slowly become narrowed and blocked as a consequence of age, smoking, high blood cholesterol or diabetes. Blockage in the heart arteries can cause heart attack. Similar blockage in the leg arteries gives rise to leg attack.

In the initial stages of blockage, patients do not have any major problems and may attribute pain on walking (claudication) to old age, weak muscles or arthritis. However, if left undiagnosed and untreated, PAD often ends with severe rest pain and ulcers or gangrene and eventual amputation of the leg.

Who is at risk of PAD?

The risk of atherosclerosis increases with the following risk factors. If you have more than two of these risk factors, regular examination with an ABI test will detect PAD in early stages.

How do you know if you have PAD?

After a careful questionnaire and examination, a vascular specialist will perform any of the following tests to diagnose and confirm PAD.

What can happen due to PAD?

Known to be a naturally progressive disease, as time goes by and the blockage increases, patients may develop increasing severity in the leg pain with slow healing of ulcers or onset of black patches in toes or foot (Gangrene)

In earlier times, patients with gangrene were advised for amputation of leg, either below or sometimes above the knee. But with newer advances in vascular surgery, procedures are now being performed to prevent amputation. After all, it’s not your legs, it’s your life!

What treatment is effective in preventing amputations?

Your vascular specialist can guide you and help you provide a suitable balanced option between the different available procedures based on multiple factors including age, co-existent problems, level of blockages and availability or expense of devices.

  • Angioplasty: Minimally invasive techniques through needle punctures and utilising endovascular balloons or stents have revolutionised the treatment of PAD patients. There have been substantial developments in the skills and resources utilised for endovascular procedures over the past decade. Continuously upgrading expertise has led to development of drug coated balloons, atherectomy devices and vascular mimetic stents which promise to deliver better results in reduced recovery time and are less painful. They are now regularly used for treatment of leg arterial blockages.
  • Bypass: Often, long segment blockages or multilevel blockages are better dealt with by surgical bypass. Surgical bypass can be performed by using patients own vein or a synthetic graft and can be performed from the abdomen to the foot depending on the level and extent of arterial blockage. These procedures will not cure PAD, but they can improve the blood circulation to your legs and your ability to walk and thus prevent amputation.
  • Medicines: Not all patients require major surgery if diagnosed in time. In addition to changing your lifestyle after a diagnosis and controlling of risk factors like diabetes and hypertension, certain medicines are useful in the initial stages of PAD.
  • Walking exercises: Exercise strengthens the leg muscles which are out of shape and weak. It is useful for improving claudication distance and helps you lead a healthy life. However, this may not be suitable for patients who have ulcer or gangrene.

No matter what your age, early diagnosis and treatment of vascular disease can improve the quality of your life.
We strongly recommend you to stay updated on the latest information and treatments in vascular care. You never know when you need to know.

Frequently asked questions

PAD can be a deadly disease if left untreated, so it’s important to take a PAD diagnosis seriously and treated at the right time.There are two ways that PAD can decrease life expectancy: by raising the likelihood of unhealthy arteries elsewhere in the body and by increasing the risk of amputation.  PAD disease life expectancy is difficult to determine but due to these circumstances,1 in 5 people with PAD (Peripheral Arterial Disease) will suffer from a heart attack, stroke or death within five years if left untreated.

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