Hello and welcome to the Zero to Finals podcast. My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to be

talking to you about peripheral arterial disease. And you can find written notes on this topic at

zero tofinals.com slash p a.D or in the vascular surgery section of the zero definals surgery book so let's get straight into it peripheral

arterial disease refers to the narrowing of arteries supplying the limbs and the periphery which reduces

the blood supply to these areas it usually usually refers to the lower limbs, resulting

in symptoms of claudication. Intermittent claudication is a symptom of eschemia in a limb,

which occurs during exertion and is relieved by rest. It's typically a crampy, achy pain that occurs in the calf, thigh or buttock muscles

and is associated with muscle fatigue when walking beyond a certain intensity.

Critical limb ischemia is the end stage of peripheral arterial disease,

where there is an inadequate supply of blood

to a limb to allow it to function normally at rest. The features are pain at rest, non-healing

ulcers and gangrene. There is a significant risk of losing the limb. Acute limb aschemia refers to a rapid onset of aschemia in a limb.

Typically this is due to a thrombus or a clot blocking the arterial supply of a distal limb,

similar to a thrombus blocking a coronary artery in a myocard lymphaction.

Ischemia refers to inadequate oxygen supply to the tissues due to reduce blood supply.

Necrosis refers to the death of tissue.

Gangrene refers to the death of tissue specifically due to an inadequate blood supply.

Let's talk about atherosclerosis.

Athero refers to soft or porridge-like,

and sclerosis refers to hardening.

Atherosclerosis is a combination of atheromas,

which are fatty deposits in the artery walls,

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