Constant pain should never be ignored, and can be a warning sign of a potentially life-threatening condition. For the 12 million Americans with PAD, or peripheral arterial disease, ignoring those aches and pains can lead to limb amputation.

 

“If you have constant leg pain when you walk that stops when you do, you probably had PAD,” said Dr. Robert Foster, a cardiologist with Birmingham Heart Clinic, which is associated with Medical Center East. PAD occurs when plaque – a fatty substance that contains cholesterol and other elements – builds up in an artery, narrowing it and restricting blood flow to the body’s limbs.

 

The most common methods for treating PAD have been angioplasty balloons and stents, which push plaque to the sides of the wall rather than remove it. These procedures can damage the arteries, and, in the case of angioplasty balloons, can lead to renarrowing of the arteries, Forster said.

 

The new SilverHawk plaque excision system treats PAD without risk to the arteries. With the procedure, a patient can be up and walking the next day, with only a tiny bandage over a puncture site rather than stitches.

 

“The procedure is a way to relieve discomfort in the legs, and also a way to salvage a limb that isn’t receiving blood from the arteries,” Foster said. “Someone comes in who can’t walk at all, and this just completely changes their lifestyle.”

 

The patient is given a sedative, and the physician makes a tiny puncture in the patient’s groin area where the devices is inserted through a catheter. Once the device reaches the artery with the blockage, the physician activates a tiny rotating blade the size of a grain of rice. The blade shaves the plaque from the artery walls.

 

As the device moves through the artery, plaque is captured in the nose cone of the catheter and removed. The procedure takes about an hour.

 

Foster, who has been using the SilverHawk system for more than a year, is pleased with what it can do, but is most excited about what it avoids. “We’re preventing a surgery,” he said. “We’re fixing the artery before it closes off and cause more problems.”

Published by Birmingham News
February 25, 2007 in 'Your Health' section