Give a Leg Up: Screening for Peripheral Artery Disease after Acute Myocardial Infarction

[See article vol. 29 : 992-1000] Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is the atherosclerotic obstruction of the arteries supplying the limbs, especially the lower extremities. PAD affects approximately 230 million people worldwide, and the number of patients has been suggested to be increasing in the aged population. A typical symptom of PAD is intermittent claudication, which is pain in the legs that worsens with walking and improves at rest ; however, it has been reported that most patients with PAD are asymptomatic. PAD has been shown to be an indicator of systemic atherosclerosis, including the coronary, carotid, and cerebrovascular arteries. In addition, accumulating evidence have suggested that PAD is a predictor of future cardiovascular outcomes, such as myocardial infarction (MI), stroke, and death. Thus, it has been suggested that the diagnosis of PAD in its asymptomatic stage might help improve clinical outcomes in atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases. The ankle-brachial index (ABI) is the ratio of the ankle to brachial systolic blood pressure.