Sistema Cardiovascular Coronary artery bypass in the leg

When there is an obstruction in the arteries that take blood to the legs (iliac arteries), there can be pain, tiredness, or weakness feeling in those members while practicing exercise. This disease is called as claudication and occurs due to atherosclerosis.

Atherosclerosis is the process of artery aging, where atheroma (fat) plaques form inside the artery as the time passes. With such plaques, the vessel reduces its internal diameter, causing difficulty for the blood passage.

Figure 1. Coronary artery bypassed in a leg

As intervention might be necessary in some cases, and a surgery is one of the possible forms. A bypass (saphenous vein or prosthesis) is used in such procedure. This is a surgery type where a bypass is made over the place with narrowing or obstruction, so improving the blood and oxygen flow.

Treatment

Physical exercise is the initial and most important treatment. It must be individualized for each case. The walks must be performed until the pain time. The patient must stop for some minutes when pain appears and then walk again until the symptoms restart. The more times this is repeated the better will be. The improvement occurs slowly (from 3 to 6 months). The exercise helps to develop more blood vessels (collateral circulation) as the time passes, so improving the symptoms and the claudication distance.

But some medicines are also important supports to the physical exercise, in order to help to improve the claudication distance, and can be used in specific cases, after a medical evaluation.

Measures that can be taken to keep the vessels healthy:
– Avoid smoking;
– Regular physical exercise;
– Treat the diabetes;
– Treat the high pressure;
– Keep the cholesterol low;
– Healthy diet – low in saturated fat and calories;
– Keep an ideal weight.

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