Soumitra Kumar Ghosh1 , Rajatsubhra Haldar2 , Kaushik Chakraborty3 , Sudipta Basu4 , Sudhish Hazra5 , Ananya Mondal6 , Raman Sau7 , Priyadarshini Sur8
BACKGROUND Peripheral arterial disease is an important cause of morbidity predominantly in males, especially of elderly age group. We wanted to evaluate the presence of peripheral arterial disease of lower limb in cases clinically indicated and referred to Department of Radio-Diagnosis and document the grey scale and Doppler features of ultrasound in cases of peripheral arterial disease of lower limbs. METHODS First 50 patients of clinically diagnosed peripheral arterial disease of lower limbs have been included for colour doppler ultrasonography (CDUSG). Those patients are examined by using HD7 USG machine. 7.5 MHz frequency probe is used in most cases. For obese patients and patients with thick subcutaneous fat 3.5 MHz frequency probe is utilized. RESULTS The findings of first 50 clinically diagnosed PAD patients have been evaluated. Age range of most patients were from 30 to 80 years with mean age was 58 year. Smoking followed by hypertension and diabetes mellitus appear most significant risk factors with intermittent claudication being the most common clinical presentation among the cases followed by the ulceration of lower extremities. On CDUSG an average of 36 out of 50 subjects show no obvious significant luminal stenosis. Only 5 out of 50 patients show mild to moderate stenosis of Infra-Renal Aorta. However, rest of the patients who were examined showed variable degrees of stenosis from mild to severe form with few having total luminal occlusion. Wall calcification, thickening of intima-medial layers of arterial wall, monophasic vascular flow, multiple collateral formation with decrease in resistance being the usual supportive findings. CONCLUSIONS Elderly subjects with features of high-risk factors are the vulnerable group of people who are most commonly affected by the peripheral arterial disease. By using CDUSG those clinically suspected patients can be diagnosed accurately and more precisely regarding the presence of lower extremity peripheral arterial disease.
