FGF-1:
Fact Sheet
Peripheral
Arterial Occlusive Disease (PAOD), aka: critical
limb ischemia. A closure or obstruction in a peripheral artery, such as
in a limb, which prevents oxygenated blood from reaching the tissues.
PAD Stage
IIa (Mild): Symptoms of pain in the limb with exercise, which is relieved
by rest.
PAD Stage
IIb (Moderate): Pain, tension and weakness in the limb when walking,
which increases until walking is impossible (aka: intermittent claudication).
Symptoms lessen after a period of rest.
PAD Stage
III/IV (Severe): Symptoms of pain in the leg when at rest, with or
without gangrenous ulcers. Limitation of walking. Need for surgery or
re-operations. Gangrene, leading to leg amputations.
Disease
Demographics
Patients at risk with no symptoms: 10-20 million
Patients at Stage IIb (Moderate): 3-5 million
Patients at Stage III/IV: 500,000
Therapeutic
Options for Severe PAOD / Critical Limb Ischemia
• Drug therapy (majority of all patients). Anti-platelet therapy,
usually aspirin or clopidogrel or ticlodipine. Patients are also started
on exercise and other programs (smoking cessation, weight loss) to decrease
risk factor profiles. Other agents included vasodilating calcium channel
blockers such as Procardia, products such as Trental™ (pentoxifylline),
Pletal™ (cilostazol) or systemic anticoagulant therapy.
• Percutaneous Transluminal Angioplasty (180,000 patients). Dilatation
of a blood vessel by means of a balloon catheter inserted through the
skin and through the lumen of the blood vessel to the site of the narrowing,
where the balloon is inflated to flatten plaque against the artery wall.
• Surgical Bypass/Revascularization (30-50% of patients). Restoration
of blood supply to a part by means of a vascular graft, providing an auxiliary
flow of blood.
• Amputation (35,000 or 7% of patients). Removal of a limb.
|
