The screening is essential for diabetics in order to prevent amputation, heart attack and stroke, because one-third have PAD, but most do not present classic symptoms.
Legs For Life is the largest, longest running and most inclusive national vascular disease screening program in the United States.
The program has been held annually since 1998 in September, which is Vascular Disease Awareness Month.
Although 10 million Americans have PAD, diabetics are at highest risk with one in three over age 50 affected.
PAD is “hardening of the arteries” in the legs most often due to atherosclerosis that occurs when “plaque” builds up inside the arteries causing them to clog and narrow.
As diabetes affects every vascular bed in the body and increases the risk for accelerated atherogenesis—the formation of plaque build-up in the lining of the arteries, diabetics are especially susceptible to PAD.
In real terms this means that 18.2 million Americans with diabetes are at risk of PAD.
Because atherosclerosis is a systemic disease, people with PAD are likely to have blocked arteries in other areas of their body.
Over time, the plaque builds up in the arteries and blocks the smaller arteries first, such as in the legs.
This causes decreased blood flow to the legs, which can result in pain when walking, and eventually gangrene and amputation.
Eventually the larger arteries, such as those in the heart or the carotid artery to the brain, become blocked as well, so PAD in the legs is in fact an early warning for future life-threatening vascular disease.
Interventional radiologist and Legs For Life Chair Harvey Wiener, says that if undetected, peripheral arterial disease can lead to amputation and increase a person’s risk of having a heart attack and stroke.
Apparently this progression of PAD results in death for about one-third of patients.
Due to the vascular damage caused by the progression of diabetes, more than 50 percent of diabetic PAD patients are asymptomatic and cannot feel the classic warning sign of PAD – intermittent claudication, or leg pain that occurs when walking or exercising and disappears when the person stops the activity.
This makes screening essential as one-third of diabetics have peripheral arterial disease.
By the time they do notice they have a problem, they are often facing amputation, kidney damage, or stroke says Wiener.
He says that diabetics and their doctors need to get into the habit of an annual ABI test to look for PAD.
During the Legs For Life screening, an ankle brachial index (ABI) test is used to detect PAD.
This quick, painless test compares the blood pressure in the legs to the blood pressure in the arms to determine how well the blood is flowing and whether further tests are needed.