ABSTRACT
Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is dened by the presence of signicant narrowing of arteries distal to the arch of the aorta, most oen due to atherosclerosis. PAD of the lower limb occurs when narrowing of arteries occurs distal to the aortic bifurcation and remains one of the major manifestations of atherosclerosis.1,2 PAD is usually asymptomatic in the initial stages. Disease progression to intermittent claudication (IC) is dened as a reproducible lower extremity muscular pain induced by exercise and relieved by short periods of rest. A resting ankle-brachial index of ≤0.90 indicates a hemodynamically signicant arterial stenosis and is most oen used to dene PAD.1 Further deterioration to critical limb ischemia, which potentially threatens the viability of the limb, may be dened as a persistent rest pain for a period greater than 2 weeks’ duration requiring regular analgesia, with or without associated tissue ulceration or gangrene.3
