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Leg Screening
May
12, 2008 |
Cardiologists like Dr. Shalin Mehta tell us some blockages in your arteries can
cause pain in areas other than your chest. He says, “There are patients that
have blockages. The same way that you can get blockages of your heart arteries
going to your brain you can also have blockages in the arteries moving to your
legs.” This condition can even make it painful for some patients to walk. Dr.
Mehta says, “What they’ll notice is that when they start walking they’ll get
pain in their legs and it gets better when they stop walking and the fancy word
for that is called caloticacion.” If you have leg pain you may not think a
cardiologist is who you should be consulting. But Dr. Mehta says that may not
always be the case. “It makes sense to go to a cardiologist because we deal not
just with the heart but with the vascular system as well so you can get both
things looked at during the same time.” After doing some non-invasive
preliminary tests, cardiologists can then explore ways to help ease the pain and
get the blood flowing freely again through the legs. “In people that have
problems with blood flow in their legs there’s a lot of things we can do for
them now even a lot of cardiologists like me are doing. We are putting either
balloons or stints in people’s arteries to try and help the blood flow,” says
Dr. Mehta. The painful leg condition is most common in people who already have
diabetes or experience heart pain. Talk with your physician or cardiologist if
you’re experiencing pain in your legs. Leg pain caused by artery blockages
usually feels like cramping in your legs when you walk. |
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