Peripheral Artery Disease Threatens Legs
[Newsmax.com wires] WASHINGTON — Gangrene was eating away Frank D. Johnson’s toes, the last stage of a little-known disease that slowly chokes off blood flow in millions of people’s legs. Dr. Richard Neville made a last-ditch attempt to avoid amputating his leg, implanting a special woven tube to replace a key clogged artery. The artificial blood vessel, coated with a blood-thinning drug to work better, is the latest treatment aimed at saving legs riddled with peripheral artery disease, or PAD.
Far better would be to stop this disease before patients’ legs are in such jeopardy, not only to keep the people walking, but because having the leg condition increases sixfold the risk of a heart attack or stroke. If leg arteries are clogged, other blood vessels usually are, too. more …
Filed under: Medical News