A common cause of chronic leg pain
is poor circulation. The medical name for this condition
is peripheral artery disease, or PAD. PAD can seriously
impair a person’s ability
to walk and function independently.
Patients with this may experience pain in their legs, hip
or buttocks when walking a certain distance. Resting usually
relieves the pain but it returns when walking that same distance
again. These symptoms are known as intermittent claudication.
A person experiencing these symptoms should call their doctor.
Common Risk Factors For PAD include:
- Family history of heart or vascular disease
- History of smoking
- High blood pressure
- Diabetes
- High cholesterol
- Obesity
Your
doctor can diagnose PAD using different tests including ultrasound,
CT scanning or MRA. Additionally, the diagnosis can be made
using a test called an arteriogram. An arteriogram is a special
x-ray of the arteries. If treatment is needed, here at the
Elliot Health System, we can provide a number of non- surgical
options, such as angioplasty and vascular stent placement.
Stent implantation is an exciting option for patients with
PAD; this is a major improvement in the way that vascular
disease is being treated. With a stent, patients can get
back on their feet right away, without leg pain and return
to a more active and independent life almost immediately,
with virtually no post-procedural recovery time.
Dr Carl Fier is offering his services for both cardiac and
vascular intervention here at the Elliot Health System.
Ablation
 Here at the Elliot Health System, Dr. Paul LeLorier
from Boston Medical center is offering his services for patients
in the Manchester area who have heart arrhythmias. Over the
last decade, ablation techniques have revolutionized the treatment
of many heart arrhythmias and it is now considered the primary therapy
for heart arrhythmias.
Ablation is a nonsurgical procedure that
is done to cure many SVT’s
or A flutters using radio frequency waves that heat the
tip of a cather. Energy is delivered though a cather,
which reaches a certain temperature. This will results
in searing of tissues at the site, which will no
longer conduct electrical impulses. An ablation is
usually done following a diagnostic study to confirm
arrhythmia called an EP.
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