A comprehensive review the state-of-the-art in atherosclerosis of the arteries of the legs and feet. The authors discuss in detail the primary symptom-claudication-an intermittent pain in the leg or foot while walking, its predisposing factors, the current diagnostic methodologies, the impressive advances in the therapeutic armamentarium, and the need to screen for co-existing coronary artery disease. Additional chapters describe cutting-edge noninvasive angiography and vascular flow studies, specific drug therapy for claudication, regression of atherosclerosis therapy, gene therapy, and drug eluting stents for peripheral arterial disease. The authors also examine the epidemiology of LEAD, the effects of smoking and effective smoking cessation programs, its pathogenesis and its association with lipid abnormalities and hypertension, aggressive risk factor modification, and the need to measure the ankle brachial index of every patient over 45.
