What kinds of procedures are done for peripheral arterial disease?
Your doctor will recommend either angioplasty or bypass surgery if you decide to have a surgical procedure for peripheral arterial disease. Surgical procedures to treat peripheral arterial disease include: • Angioplasty. This is a procedure in which the surgeon inserts a small, thin tube called a catheter through a blood vessel in the groin and guides it to the affected artery. When the tube reaches the narrowed part of the artery, the surgeon inflates a balloon to press the built-up plaque against the wall of the artery and improve blood flow. A small, expandable wire-mesh tube called a stent often is placed in the artery to hold it open. • Bypass surgery. The types of surgery used to treat PAD are categorized according to the location of the affected leg artery or arteries. Common surgeries include: • Aortobifemoral bypass, for narrowing of the aorta—the major abdominal artery—and the iliac arteries, which branch off from the aorta. • Femoropopliteal (fem-pop) bypass, for narrowing o
