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(Circulation. 2007;116:1346-1348.)
© 2007 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editorial

Is a Simple Biomarker for Peripheral Arterial Disease on the Horizon?

Brian H. Annex, MD

From the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Duke University, and Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Durham, NC.

Correspondence to Brian H. Annex, MD, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Duke University, and Durham Veterans Affairs and Medical Center, 508 Fulton St, Box 111A, Durham, NC 27710. E-mail annex001@mc.duke.edu

Key Words: Editorials • peripheral vascular disease • proteins

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

Atherosclerosis is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the Western world, and one of the major clinical complications of atherosclerosis is the impairment of blood flow to the lower extremity, which is commonly referred to as peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Although long underrecognized and underdiagnosed in the medical community, the prevalence of PAD in the United States alone is estimated to be 8 to 12 million, and PAD is also quite common in Europe and Asia.^1–4 In fact, the prevalence of atherosclerosis primarily, or solely, affecting the lower extremity, cerebral vascular system, renal arteries, and visceral organs is now equal to or greater than the number of individuals afflicted with ischemic heart disease.^2,5 The reasons that PAD of the lower extremity has been underdiagnosed are likely multifactorial. Even today, these explanations include but are certainly not limited to (1) an overlap of symptoms of what is perceived to be "normal" aging, (2) a sense that treatment options are limited and that the disease is very stable over time, (3) the attributing of the symptoms of true pain when present to other disease processes such as neuropathy, and (4) the need for busy physicians and healthcare providers to perform additional measures as part of a physical examination in an environment of decreasing time available to each patient. The facts are very clear that PAD imparts an increase in the risk of cardiovascular death and stroke,⁶ that treatment options for PAD are expanding,^7,8 and that even in minimally symptomatic patients . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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