PAD happens when fat builds up in your leg arteries, reducing the flow of blood and oxygen. This leads to pain, weakness and slow wound healing in your lower body. To treat PAD, your doctor may recommend:
- Angioplasty and stenting – Uses a tiny balloon to widen clogged arteries and a stent (tube) to keep them open
- Atherectomy – Breaks up hard fat buildups with a miniature drill placed inside a blood vessel
- Peripheral vascular bypass surgery – Uses your healthy blood vessels or a graft (tube) to reroute blood around clogged arteries
These procedures improve blood flow through your legs, relieving your symptoms.
DVT is a blood clot that usually appears in the lower legs. It can slow the flow of blood and oxygen, leading to pain, swelling and open wounds. If part of the clot breaks off and travels to the lungs, it can cause trouble breathing—a medical emergency.
To treat DVT, a doctor may use a catheter (tiny tube) to deliver a special medication to the clot and dissolve it. The doctor makes a puncture in a vein, guides the catheter up to the clot and then sucks it out as it dissolves. This procedure is called catheter-directed thrombolysis.
Treating swollen, twisted varicose veins can prevent or reduce leg pain, blood clots and skin sores. Ask your doctor about your treatment options. You may benefit from one of these procedures:
- Ablation – Uses heat to close varicose veins
- Phlebectomy – Removes varicose veins through minor surgery
- Sclerotherapy – Gives varicose veins injections of a fluid that shrinks them
These treatments reroute blood through healthier vessels, improving the flow of blood and oxygen.
Laser Vein Ablation is a procedure that uses heat from a laser to reduce varicose veins. Varicose veins are swollen, bulging veins that often happen on the thighs or calves. A laser is a device that sends a thin beam of radiation in the form of light. During the surgery, the laser makes the varicose vein smaller and closes it. This creates scar tissue inside the vein, sealing it off. Afterward, blood flows through other nearby veins instead.
