Introducere: Peripheral arterial disease, a manifestati-on of systemic atherosclerosis, represents a disease with high prevalence and related mortality and morbidity. Lot of patients with peripheral arterial disease develop critical limb ischemia leading to amputation, which have a significant functional and social impact.
Methods: T his prospective study included 100 pati-ents diagnosed with different stages of peripheral ar-terial disease, who were hospitalized at „St.Spiridon” Hospital, Internal Medicine Clinic, between January the 1st 2016 and December the 31st 2017. Demogra-phic data, the presence of cardiovascular risk factors, clinical symptoms, associated co-morbidities and the impact of medication on disease progression have been analyzed and correlated. Investigations included biou-moral tests, electrocardiography, ankle brachial index, transthoracic echocardiogram and vascular doppler ultrasonography.
Results: Age varies between 52 and 92 years, with an average age of 71.45±10.15 years, with predominance of the male gender from urban residence. Smocking is the main risk factor. Using the Fontaine and Rutherford classification, most patients were classified as advanced stages, even with the indication of amputation. Hyper-tension, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia and alchool use were the most associated co-morbidities. Low compliance with treatment has a nagative prognosis.
Conclusions: T he management of peripheral arterial disease is complex, with the primary goal of improving the quality of life in terms of remission or reduction of pain and maintaining the viability of the affected limb. The accelerated technological process and the develop-ment of molecular cardiology will offer new possibiliti-es for treatment in cardiovascular diseases.