What is intermittent claudication?

The arteries in the legs can become partially or completely blocked. This mainly occurs in smokers, diabetes, high cholesterol or high blood pressure. The deposition of fat in the vessel wall will cause it to calcify and the blood will reach its destination less well or not at all. Initially this will result in cold feet or lower legs, but in a more advanced stage you will feel pain in the calves when walking.

In the beginning, the pain will only occur after longer distances, but gradually you will also experience pain after shorter distances. Finally, when taking a walk, one will have to stand at every display window because one has pain in the calves.

This can be prevented by not smoking and keeping blood pressure, sugar and cholesterol under control. Once one has the disease, medication will not help much and surgery is necessary.

Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1078588421010327

Author: Prof. Dr. Dirk Devroey - Latest update: 2022-12-09 - Copyright: Clinifacts 2024