Important Considerations Before Surgery to Treat Poor Leg Circulation

The Heart of Innovation with Kym McNicholas

Once a procedure is performed to improve blood flow in the legs for a circulation issue known as Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD), it starts the clock for the next one. PAD is a progressive disease in which the best treatment lay in patient compliance to appropriate medications and lifestyle modifications, including smoking cessation, diet, and diabetes management. That's why Interventional Cardiologists Dr. John Phillips and Dr. Ashish Gupta discuss the importance of ensuring all conservative options are exhausted prior to any attempt to restore blood flow manually using wires, balloons, and stents, or bypass. If conservative approaches aren't enough to relieve pain, cramping, or help heal a wound that has developed on the toe or foot, they say it's at that point guidelines indicate an intervention or bypass may be necessary. But it's important to have all risk factors mitigated prior to a procedure in order to extend its durability and time before another procedure may need to be performed again. This discussion comes on the heels of recent string of patients with moderate PAD presenting to patient advocacy organization The Way To My Heart with intervention and bypass surgery as frontline treatment prior to frontline treatment of medication and lifestyle modifications as per guidelines set forth by the Society for Vascular Surgery and American Heart Association.