I was diagnosed with Peripheral Artery Disease last week. Please advise.

Question

Hello doctor,

I am a 47 year old female, who has had a 90 % blocked carotid artery and subsequent endarterectomy at the age of 42 years. A year later, I had a massive heart attack and 100 % block in my right coronary artery. I was just diagnosed with PAD (Peripheral Artery Disease) last week. Additional to the PAD, knowing that my left coronary artery is also 40 % blocked, just tripled my risk factor. What can be done and who do I need to go see to get preventive surgery before this disease of my arteries spreads throughout my entire body. All my doctors are stuck as to what to do and I refuse to live on statin drugs. Please advise.

Answer 1

Hi,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I have read through your query in detail. Please find my observations below.

Statins are widely used to treat PAD. Depending on other conditions, antihypertensives and medicines to control blood sugar levels are prescribed to patients with hypertension and diabetes respectively to control the progress of the disease.

There are certain medicines which increase the flow of blood through the arteries by increasing the luminal diameter. They are Cilostazol and Pentoxifylline, and your doctors might have discussed it with you. Medicines to prevent clotting might also be given including Clopidogrel.

You should consult a vascular surgeon and regularly follow up. Surgical options include angioplasty, bypass surgery, and thrombolytic procedures. Please consider medicine treatment first and then surgical procedures.