Can peripheral arterial blockage be treated without surgery? This question is often asked by people with diabetes, severe obesity, or high blood pressure, especially smokers, as they are the people most at risk of developing clogged arteries, especially the peripheral arteries in the legs.
With the onset of symptoms of obstruction, such as pain while walking and a change in skin color, the patient begins to search for the best way to treat this serious disease, the complications of which may lead to gangrene and then amputation if the patient does not submit to the appropriate treatment plan for his condition.
Through the following lines, we will learn about the latest methods of treating peripheral arterial blockages, and the possibility of treating them without the need for surgical intervention, with Professor Dr. Hossam Al-Mahdi, Professor of Vascular Surgery at Kasr Al-Aini Medicine.
Methods of treating peripheral arterial occlusion:
Treatment of clogged arteries goes through the following stages:
First: Diagnosis:
The patient undergoes many tests that show the exact location of the blockage and helps the vascular treatment doctor choose the most appropriate treatment according to each case. The most important of these tests are:
• Duplex ultrasound is used as an initial examination for the patient to clarify the possibility of treating blocked peripheral arteries without surgery, whether by relying on medications or peripheral catheters, or that surgical intervention is the necessary procedure for the condition, which may happen in a few cases that do not exceed 10%. Of the total number of patients with peripheral arterial occlusion.
• Kidney function analysis, in case the solution is surgical intervention or via catheterization.
• CT scan, which reveals the location and size of the obstruction more specifically (this scan is not performed except after confirming kidney function).
Second: Treatment:
Methods of treating clogged arteries vary and the cases they are used vary according to the degree of blockage, and they include:
1- Medicines:
In some early cases of narrowing of the arteries, only drug treatment may suffice, such as blood thinners and medications that help control cholesterol levels in the blood.
2- Traditional surgery:
This operation is performed by taking some blood vessels in the leg and using them to make a connection in the blocked artery. It begins before the site of the blockage and continues until after the blockage, in order to allow blood to flow normally.
3- Peripheral catheter:
Peripheral catheterization is the newest and most effective way to get rid of blocked peripheral arteries without surgery, as it relies on inserting the catheter (which is a very thin wire) into the leg artery until reaching the site of the blockage, and then discovering the available solutions.
These solutions include expanding the blockage through only one step, which is inflating the balloon at the tip of the catheter, or adding a subsequent step to the first step, which is installing one or more stents after expanding the blockage. A stent is a mesh tube that acts as an inner wall to support the vascular wall so it does not become narrowed again.
Dr. Hossam Al-Mahdi determines whether the artery needs to install a stent or not. This is done by knowing the condition of the artery from the tests that are performed before the operation. The stent is usually installed if the blockage is in the groin area above the knee in order to increase the lifespan of the results of the intervention, but if the blockage is located below the knee, it is sufficient to expand the blockage only.
Professor Dr. Hossam Al-Mahdi – Vascular Surgeon Consultant – treats blocked peripheral arteries without surgery or with traditional surgery with the best tools that enable the patient to obtain the best results after the operation and avoid foot gangrene or other complications of blocked arteries.
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