Often PAD can be treated with lifestyle changes. Smoking cessation and a structured exercise program are often all that is needed to alleviate symptoms and prevent further progression of disease.
The first-line treatment for symptomatic narrowing or short blockages in the artery is angioplasty and stenting. Interventional vascular radiologists pioneered this technique and for decades have been responsible for most of the advances in the minimally invasive endovascular treatment of diseases of the arteries. The interventional vascular radiologists at VIRA are highly experienced and skilled at angiograms, angioplasty, and stent placement, having performed thousands of these procedures over more than three decades in the Middle Georgia area.
If you require treatment for a narrowed or blocked artery, the procedure is performed as an outpatient in the hospital with sedation to minimize discomfort. Generally an overnight stay is not required. A tube or small catheter (about the size of thin spaghetti) is inserted through a tiny nick in your skin at your groin or rarely the upper arm. Using x-rays, the catheter is guided to the area of blockage and a small balloon is gently inflated to reform an open channel in your artery. In some cases this area is then held open with a stent, a small metal cylinder placed through the same nick in your skin.
The majority of diseased arteries can be treated using this minimally invasive, painless procedure, therefore avoiding major surgery, general anesthesia, and long recuperation associated with vascular surgery techniques of yesteryear.