Peripheral Venous Disease vs Peripheral Artery Disease

The following are the areas of focus; the definition- PAD is defined as a condition of the circulatory system where the arteries supplying blood to the limbs are narrowed dramatically causing a decrease in blood flow to the limbs, while PVD is a disease characterized by obstruction or venous reflux of the veins found at the limbs. The main stages of the diseases are; in PAD, there is stage 1- asymptomatic phase, stage 2 -intermittent claudication, and the third and the fourth stage as critical leg ischemia, while in PVD, there is the asymptomatic stage, intermittent claudication, and the severe stage/critical stage. Under disease development, PAD begins with a simple ischemia due to blood vessel blockade by an atheroma followed by claudication and necrosis due to extreme or total blockade of the blood vessels and the risk factors that cause development of the disease include; diabetes, cigarette smoking, lack of exercise, age, high homocysteine levels, hypertension, and genetics.

In PVD, it begins with a simple clot, then as the clot becomes bigger, there will be more venous obstruction, which leads to the severe stage of the disease. Current research done for cure of PAD and PVD include the Tack Endovascular System, atherectomy, and the cell-based therapy. PAD is due to excessive accumulation and deposition of fatty molecules in the blood vessels, a condition referred to as atherosclerosis. PAD and PVD only affects the limbs. Some of the factors that predispose someone to PAD include; smoking, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, old age, and genetics. In PVD the risk factors include; smoking, obesity, lack of exercise, and excess hormones. (Ogilvie, Lutsey, Heiss, Folsom & Steffen, 2017). At the commencement of the stage, the patients will experience claudication while walking over 200 meters while in the later times of the stage, the will be claudication while walking less than 150 meters.

The next phase is the critical leg ischemia. It is divided into two stages; stage three and stage four. In stage three, the patient will experience excruciating pain at the feet while at rest. This means that blood flow occlusion is severe and tissues at the limbs receive little to no blood thus the pain. The plaques are formed by a combination of calcium, fatty materials, and other components capable of making the blood vessels narrow and stiff. It will result in less blood flow to the legs hence causing ischemia. Further progress of the disease will lead to critical ischemia, where even at rest, blood flow at the leg is insufficient. This results in severe pain while resting and lesions of tissues (Ogilvie, Lutsey, Heiss, Folsom & Steffen, 2017).

On the other hand, in PVD, a clot will be formed which will restrict blood flow. Finally, there is atherectomy in PAD, and this involves surgical removal of the atheroma formed in blood vessels. It has been used before slightly but still investigations are underway to affirm its effectiveness (Annex, 2017). The knowledge of the disease within the public According to a research done by Weragoda, Weerasinghe, Seneviratne, and Wijeyaratne (2016), many patients with PAD are diagnosed late, when there is a chronic ulceration or severe leg ischemia. From the study results obtained, only 4. 1% of the 2912 adults who participated in the study had information on PAD compared to 67. Apart from drugs, invasive procedures such as angioplasty and bypass surgery could done be in PAD while in PVD, venous stenting, sclerotherapy, vein stripping, and vein ablation could be done.