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Smoking
causes pain: Another reason
to quit…Public unaware that leg pain from
Peripheral Arterial Disease is caused by
smoking
November 2007 (Medialink)
- Interventional Radiologists, medical
doctors who specialize in the vascular
system, are urging smokers to quit. Not just
because smoking causes cancer but because it
damages arteries in the legs which can lead
to other vascular disease including a heart
attack and stroke.
Most smokers are aware of cancer risk, but
few know about the effects of smoking on the
vascular system. Interventional Radiologists
see first hand the damage that smoking
causes to the arteries and the accompanying
leg pain that many smokers suffer. For some
the pain is so severe, it limits their
ability to walk.
More than 10 million Americans suffer from a
hardening of the arteries in the legs,
peripheral vascular disease, PVD.
Diagnosis for PVD is simple. A blood
pressure test compares the pressure in the
ankle to the pressure in the arm, known as
an ankle brachial index test. Treatment
includes a supervised exercise program and
stopping smoking. Some also need medication
or angioplasty in the leg to reopen the
artery and improve blood flow.
Interventional radiologists are
board-certified vascular specialists who
offer minimally invasive, targeted
treatments. They offer the most in-depth
knowledge of the least invasive, targeted
treatments available coupled with diagnostic
and clinical experience across all
specialties. They use X-rays, MRI and other
imaging to advance a catheter in the body,
usually in an artery, to treat at the source
of the disease nonsurgically. As the
inventors of angioplasty and the
catheter-delivered stent, which were first
used in the legs to treat peripheral
vascular disease, interventional
radiologists pioneered minimally invasive
modern medicine.
You can find out more information about
treatment and find an interventional
radiologist in your area at
www.SIRweb.org
