What is "peripheral arterial disease" or "PAD"?

What is "peripheral arterial disease" or "PAD"?

Rose Marie Robertson, MD, FAHA, FACC, FESC (Chief Science Officer and Past President of the Board of American Heart Association) gives expert video advice on: How is peripheral arterial disease tested and diagnosed?; How is peripheral arterial disease treated? and more...

Peripheral arterial disease, or PAD, is athresclerosis affecting blood vessels other than their heart, and that is blood vessels anywhere in the body. Most commonly, peripheral arterial disease, or athresclerosis, is seen in the blood vessels that affect the legs, but it can also be seen in blood vessels affecting the kidney, affecting the brain, and really in fact affecting any organ; even the intestines, for example. The same athresclerotic deposits that can cause heart attacks can also restrict blood flow to these organs, and can cause the same sort of symptoms. So patients will often find that they suffer from the same sort of pain in the muscles of their legs that patients with angina suffer from in the muscle of their heart. So athresclerosis: Restricting blood flow anywhere in the body.