Minimally Invasive Treatment of Arterial Disease

Peripheral arterial disease is a common disorder of the blood vessels that supply blood to the legs and feet. It occurs because of atherosclerosis condition which is narrowing and hardening of the arteries caused by plaque buildup on the artery wall. The symptoms of peripheral artery disease are pain, tiredness and discomfort or burning sensation in the feet, calf or thigh muscles. Pain may aggravate during exercise or walking and get better on taking rest.

The decreased blood circulation to the legs may result in pain and loss of tissue which makes interventional treatment necessary to resolve the problem. Minimally invasive procedure involves endovascular treatment of the blocked blood vessel which is performed to treat peripheral arterial disease. Endovascular treatment is considered if all the conservative treatment methods have been unsuccessful.

During endovascular procedure, a thin, long tube called catheter is passed into your artery through a small incision made in the groin. The catheter is then advanced to the blocked area in the artery. Your surgeon then performs endovascular treatment such as percutaneous transluminal angioplasty and stenting.

In angioplasty procedure, a guide wire is passed through the catheter over which another catheter having a small deflated balloon at its end is passed to the area of blockage. The balloon is then inflated so that it compresses the plaque against the artery wall so as to open up the blood vessel and restore blood flow.

A stent or a small metal mesh tube may be placed in the artery at the time when the balloon catheter is placed to support the cleared vessel and to keep it open.

This is minimally invasive procedure that is performed within the blood vessels and requires only a small skin incision. This approach involves shorter recovery period of 2 weeks and allows the patient to return to work faster.