Peripheral artery disease (PAD) stems from atherosclerosis of lower extremity arteries with resultant arterial narrowing or occlusion. The most severe form of PAD is termed chronic limb-threatening ischemia and carries a significant risk of limb loss and cardiovascular mortality. Diabetes mellitus is known to increase the incidence of PAD, accelerate disease progression, and increase disease severity. Patients with concomitant diabetes mellitus and PAD are at high risk for major complications, such as amputation. Despite a decrease in the overall number of amputations performed annually in the United States, amputation rates among those with both diabetes mellitus and PAD have remained stable or even increased in high-risk subgroups. Within this cohort, there is significant regional, racial/ethnic, and socioeconomic variation in amputation risk. Specifically, residents of rural areas, African-American and Native American patients, and those of low socioeconomic status carry the highest risk of amputation … read more
Tag: peripheral artery disease
Lower Extremity Arterial Disease (LEAD) Awareness and Discussion
By Holly Hovan, MSN, GERO-BC, APRN, CWOCN-AP
Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is also known as lower extremity arterial disease (LEAD), peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD), or arteriosclerosis obliterans.1 LEAD is a disease that impacts the circulatory system, specifically the arteries (narrowing, which can result in a decreased supply of blood flow to the limb), and can eventually lead to limb loss or amputations. It is important to bring awareness to LEAD and its diagnosis, treatment, and prevention to improve access to care and screenings and ultimately to prevent limb loss … read more
Healogics® Raises Awareness of Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD) to Help Reduce Amputations
Healogics, the nation’s leading provider of world-class wound care services, is raising awareness of Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD) throughout September. Through this campaign, Healogics is supporting the American Heart Association’s goal to reduce amputations by 20% by 2030 through increased PAD Awareness, diagnosis and treatment … People with PAD often have non-healing wounds in their extremities due to the restriction of blood flow limiting the natural healing process, potentially leading to complications, such as amputation. PAD affects nearly 10 million Americans and is a contributing factor in up to 30% of non-healing wounds on the lower leg. Common symptoms associated with PAD include cramping, numbness, weakness or heaviness in the leg muscles, however up to 40% of people experience no symptoms. One in four people living with late-stage PAD may require amputation within one year … read more
Predictive model identifies risk factors for major adverse limb events in diabetes
A risk score may be able to identify adults with type 2 diabetes at high risk for major adverse limb events, including in those without a history of peripheral artery disease, according to a study published in Diabetic Medicine … “This post hoc analysis of the EXSCEL trial yielded a predictive score for major adverse limb events among participants with diabetes that had a C statistic of 0.822, generally considered as very good … … continue