Diagnosis of Peripheral Vascular Disease

A diagnosis of peripheral vascular disease will depend on the symptoms that you exhibit. Leg pain while walking that stops with rest is a pretty good indication. However this symptom only manifests itself in about forty percent of all cases. Your medical history will indicate whether you fall in the high risk category or not. A useful test that many doctors use to screen for peripheral vascular disease is a set of nine questions known as the Rose criteria.

Some other tests for peripheral vascular disease that may be performed are:

Physical Examination: It may reveal signs like an absent or weakened pulse in the afflicted area, sores that are not healing, cold feet or hands or a whooshing sound (bruits) in the arteries heard with a stethoscope.

Ankle-Brachial Index (ABI): This test compares the pressure of the blood in your ankles with the blood pressure in your arms. A special ultrasound device along with the regular blood pressure cuff is used to measure the blood pressure and flow of blood. The blood pressure readings may also be taken before and after a treadmill exercise routine to gauge the degree of impaired blood flow.

Ultrasound: Also known as Doppler ultrasound, these techniques can help your doctor evaluate the flow of blood through the arteries and detect blocked or narrowed blood vessels.

Angiography: A dye made out of a contrasting material is introduced into the blood vessels. The doctor is able to view the flow of blood and identify blocked or narrowed arteries using imaging techniques such as x-rays, computerized tomography angiography (CTA) or magnetic resonance angiography (MRA). A more invasive procedure known as catheter angiography involves guiding a catheter through the blood vessels to the affected area while injecting the dye. This type of angiography allows for both diagnosis and simultaneous treatment.

Blood Tests: These tests are used to measure cholesterol and triglyceride levels in the blood.

Signs & Symptoms

Prognosis