How can doctors diagnose your peripheral artery disease?
Your doctor will ask about your medical history and review the risk factors.
Your doctor will look for abnormal findings, which include:
- Weak or no pulsations below the site of artery occlusion
- Muscles wasting and atrophy
- Bluish discoloration of the leg
- Coldness of the affected limb when compared with the other
- Shiny and thin skin and hair loss
- Poor wound healing in the affected area
If your doctor suspected peripheral artery disease, he would use an ankle-brachial index test. It is a non-invasive test that compares the blood pressure in your legs and the blood pressure in your arms at rest and after exercise. If blood pressure readings in the legs are lower than those in the arms, it suspects a blockage in the arteries that deliver blood from the heart to the legs.
If you have leg pain, but your Ankle-brachial index score is average standard, you may need additional tests, such as:
Lower limb Doppler ultrasound helps your doctor evaluate blood flow through your blood vessels and identify the site of occlusion and the extent of atherosclerosis.
Your doctor may do imaging by angiography. The technique is the insertion of a catheter inside your femoral artery and injection of a dye followed by a taken x-ray. Contrast angiography is the most available and used imaging technique. It allows your doctor to treat an occluded vessel at the time of diagnosis.
Computed tomography angiography with x-ray and contrast agent provides direct imaging of the arterial system. This test is helpful in patients with pacemakers or stents.
Magnetic resonance angiography uses a combination of a large magnet, radio frequencies, and a computer to make detailed images of your blood vessels.
Also, blood tests measure the amount of cholesterol and triglycerides in your blood and check for diabetes.
