18 - Peripheral and Arterial Vascular Disease Flashcards
What are the three conditions in peripheral arterial disease? (PAD)
- Intermittent claudication
- Critical limb ischaemia
- Acute limb ischaemia
If a patient presents with an acutely painful limb presents with the following features, what are the main differentials you think of?
- Cold and Pale
- Hot and Swollen
- Traumatic history
- Neurological signs
- Cold and Pale: acute limb ischaemia
- Hot and Swollen: DVT, cellulitis, MSK related infections
- Traumatic Hx: fractures
- Neurological signs: radiculopathy, MS (central), disc herniation (spinal), infection (peripheral)
What are the symptoms of acute limb ischaemia?
- Pulseless
- Pain
- Pallor
- Paraesthesia
- Perishingly cold
- Paralysis
Top three are usually first to present
How do you investigate and manage a suspected acute limb ischaemia in general terms?
EARLY INVOLVMENT OF VASCULAR TEAM
Ix
- Examine contralateral limb for comparison
- Look at underlying risk factors e.g AF, DM, smoking, HTN
- Arrange CT angiogram and urgent vascular review
Mx
- Emergency as irreversible tissue damage can occur in six hours
- Start on IV heparin
- Analgesia
How do you investigate and manage a DVT in general terms?
Ix
- Swollen hot limb with pain localised to calf
- Calculate Well’s score, if 2 or more do US Doppler
- If <2 do D-dimer
Mx
- Start apixaban or rivaroxaban for 3-6 months. If Cx start LMWH for 5 days first then switch to dabigatran for 3 months
- If iliofemoral DVT then urgent vascular review
What is the clinical difference betweel a politeal vein DVT and an iliofemoral DVT?
- Popliteal: pain, swelling and tenderness localised to calf, conservative management with LMWH and DOACs
- Iliofemoral: pain and swelling in whole leg, may be blue or white leg, needs urgent vascular review
If a patient presents with an acutely painful limb you should consider neurological pathology like radiculopathy. What would the clinical picture be if this was the underlying cause?
- Back pain that radiates to affected area
- Pain worse on movement
- Muscle weakness
- Paraesthesia
- Altered reflexes
How do you assess, investigate and manage a patient that presents with an acutely swollen limb?
- Accurate history
- Vascular and neurological exams of both limbs
- Ensure patient haemodynamically stabilised
- Look for red flags
- CT angiography if suspect acute limb ischaemia
- Routine bloods with G+S
- Analgesia
What are the different types of lower limb ulcers?
- Venous, Arterial, Neuropathic
- Most lower limb ulcers have venous origin
- Can also be caused by trauma, vasculitis, SCC malignancy
- Can also be a pressure sore (prolonged excessive pressure over a bony prominence)
How are pressure ulcers managed in hospital generally?
- Adequate mattress
- Repositioning
- Good wound management
What is the pathophysiology of a venous ulcer?
- Due to venous insufficiency
- Shallow with irregular borders and a granulating base and often found over medial malleolus. Prone to infection and cellulitis
- Due to valvular incompetence so impaired venous return with resultant venous hypertension. Trapping of WBC in capillaries and formation of fibrin cuff around vesel hindering oxygen transport to tissue
- WBC also release inflammatory mediators so tissue injury, poor healing and necrosis
What are some risk factors for developing a venous ulcer?
- Increasing age
- Pre exiting venous incompetence (e.g varicose veins) or previous DVT
- Pregnancy
- Obesity
- Severe leg injury
What are the clinical features of a venous ulcer and how do you investigate them?
Features:
- Painful with aching, itching or burning before ulcer appears
- May have varicose veins and ankle oedema
- May have varicose eczema, thrombophlebitis, haemosiderin skin staining, lipodermatosclerosis or atrophie blanche
Ix:
- Clinical
- Do Doppler US to confirm venous insufficiency, usually at saphenofemoral or saphenopopliteal junction
- Ankle Brachial Pressure index to assess arterial component to see if compression therapy would help
- Take swab cultures if infection
- Consider thrombophilia or vasculitic screening in younger patients
How are venous ulcers managed?
Conservative
- Leg elevation and increased exercise to promote calf pump
- Lifestyle changes e.g weight loss, improved nutrition
- Abx if swabs so infection
Definitive
- Multicomponent compression bandaging changed one or twice a week for about 6/12. Need ABPI to be >0.8 before any bandaging applied
- Use emollients to keep skin intact
- If concurrent varicose veins treat with endovenous techniques or open surgery as improving venous return helps heal ulcers
What are the risk factors for developing an arterial ulcer?
Reduction in arterial blood flow so decreased perfusion of tissues.
Same risk factors for peripheral arterial disease:
- Smoking
- DM
- HTN
- Hyperlipidaemia
- Increasing age
- Obesity
- Inactivity
What are the clinical features of an arterial ulcer?
- Small deep lesions with well defined borders and a necrotic base with no granulation tissue
- Found at pressure points and sites of trauma
- Preceding history of intermittent claudication (pain on walking) or critical limb ischaemia (pain at night)
- Limbs often cold and pulseless but sensation maintained
- Often have limb hair loss
How are arterial ulcers investigated and managed?
Ix
- Do ankle brachial pressure index to quantify extent of any peripheral arterial disease. (>0.9 normal, <0.5 severe)
- Can do duplex US, CT angiography or MRA to find location of arterial disease
Mx
- Urgent vasculat review
- Conservative: lifestyle changes like weight loss, stop smoking, increase exercise
- Medical: statin, antiplatelet (aspirin or clopidogrel) and optimise BP and glucose
- Surgical: angioplasty or bypass grafting if extensive
What are the risk factors for neuropathic ulcers?
Anything that causes peripheral neuropathy:
- B12 Deficiency
- Diabetes
These can precipitate:
- Any foot deformity
- Any peripheral vascular disease
What are the clinical features of a neuropathic ulcer?
- Painless as loss of peripheral neuropathy so repetitive stress and unnoticed injuries have no protective mechanism so form ulcers at pressure points
- History of peripheral neuropathy e.g glove and stocking distribution with warm feet and good pulses
- May have burning/tingling in legs (painful neuropathy) or amotrophic neuropathy (painful wasting of proximal quads)
Whar investigations should you do with a neuropathic ulcer?
- Blood glucose levels (either BM or HbA1c)
- Serum B12
- ABPI +/- duplex to look for arterial disease
- Swab if evidence of infection
- If signs of deep infection (e.g visible bone) do X-Ray to look for osteomyelitis
- Assess extent of neuropathy with 10g monifilament and 128Hz tuning fork
How are neuropathic ulcers managed?
Refer to Diabetic Foot Clinic
- Optimise diabetic control (HbA1c <7%)
- Improved diet and exercise
- Regular chiropody for foot hygeine
- Appropriate footwear
- Any signs of infection take swabs and give flucloxacillin (gram +ve cover)
- If ischaemic or necrotic may need surgical debridement or amputation
What is Charcot’s foot?
What is the pathophysiology of carotid artery disease and how is it classified?
- Bifurcation of carotid artery predisposes to atheromas and atherosclerosis
- Fatty streak
- Lipid core and formation of fibrous cap
- Classified by the degree of stenosis
What are some risk factors for carotid artery disease?
- Age >65
- Smoking
- HTN
- Hypercholesterolaemia
- Obesity
- DM
- CVD
- FHx
How does carotid artery disease present?
- Asymptomatic until it causes a stroke or TIA (focal neurological deficit)
- May hear carotid bruit on auscultation
- Even if complete occlusion, if unilateral asymptomatic due to collateral supply from contralateral ICA due to the Circle of Willis
Atherosclerosis is the most common cause of carotid artery disease leading to focal neurological deficit. What are some other causes of carotid artery disease?
- Carotid dissection
- Fibromuscular dysplasia
- Vasculitis
- Todd’s paresis (unilateral motor paralysis following seizure)
- Subdural haematoma
- Post ictal state
- Hypoglycaemia
If a patient has a stroke what are the investigations carried out?
Initial
- Urgent non-contrast CT to look for infarction
- If thrombectomy being considered then CT head contrast angiography
- Bloods (FBC, U+Es, clotting, lipid profile, glucose)
- ECG (AF)
Follow-Up
- Do Duplex US (Carotid US Doppler) to look for carotid artery stenosis
- Any stenosis within carotid artery can then be looked at with CT angiography
How do you manage a patient with a suspected stroke acutely?
- High flow oxygen
- Optimise blood glucose between 4 and 11
- Swallowing screen assessment
What long term management should be carried out for patients who have had a TIA or stroke?
- Antiplatelets: 300mg Aspirin for 2/52 then 75mg Clopidogrel longterm
- Statin: high dose atorastatin
- ?Carotid Endarterectomy: for acute non-disabling stroke/TIA if stenosis 50-99%
- Management of HTN and DM
- Smoking cessation
- Regular exercise and weight loss
What happens in a carotid endarterectomy and what are the complications of this?
(p.s better than stenting as less risk of long-term major adverse events)
- Done in symptomatic (TIA or stroke) 50-99% carotid artery oclusion
- Remove atheroma and damaged intima
- Reduces risk of future strokes/TIAs
- Complications: stroke, damage to hypoglossal/vagal/glossopharyngeal nerve, MI, local bleeding, infection
What are some general complications of a stroke?
- Dysphagia
- Seizures
- Bowel incontinence
- Anxiety and depression
- Cognitive decline
What is the definition of an
- aneurysm
- abdominal aortic aneurrysm
- Aneurysm: abnormal dilatation of a blood vessel more than 50% its normal diameter
- AAA: dilatation of the AA greater than 3cm, every 8mm increase there is 34% more chance of death
What are some risk factors for an AAA?
- Smoking
- HTN
- Hyperlipidaemia
- FHx
- Male
- Increasing age
- DM is negative risk factor
What are the clinical features of an AAA?
Asymptomatic: detected on screening or incidental finding
Symptomatic: see image
What is the AAA screening programme in the UK?
Abdominal US offered to men aged 65 once
If AAA detected either direct referral for surgery or 3-5 years surveillance before reaching threshold for elective repaire
What are the differentials with the pain produced in AAA?
- Renal colic (due to back pain and no other symptoms)
- IBD/IBS
- GI haemorraghe
- Appendicitis
- Ovarian rupture
- Splenic infarctions
How do you investigate a suspected AAA (not ruptured)?
- US
- Once US has confirmed then CT scan with contrast with a threshold diameter of 5.5cm
How are unruptured AAA’s managed?
Medical (<5.5cm asymptomatic)
- Monitor with Duplex USS (3-4.4cm yearly, 4.5-5.4 every 3 months)
- Smoking cessation to stop expansion and rupture
- Improve blood pressure control
- Aspirin and Statin therapy
Surgical (>5.5cm, symptomatic or expanding >1cm a year)
- If >6.5cm tell DVLA
- If unfit patient can wait until 6cm
- See image for options
What would be preferred for an AAA repair, endovascular stenting or open repair?
- Both have similar outcomes
- Endovascular repair has better short term outcomes (30 day mortality and decreased hospital stay) but higher rate of reintervention and aneurysm leaking
- Young patient open repair preferred
What are the complications of an AAA?
- Rupture
- Retroperitoneal leak
- Embolisation
- Aortoduodenal fistula
How do AAA ruptures present?
- Abdominal and back pain
- Syncope
- Vomiting
- Haemodynamicall compromised
- Pulsatile tender mass in abdomen
TRIAD OF RUPTURED AAA: flank or back pain, hypotension, pulsatile abdominal mass
How is any suspected AAA rupture managed?
Immediate: high flow O2, IV access with 2 large bore cannulas, urgent boods (FBC, U+Es, Clotting), crossmatch for minimum 6 units
Shock treatment: try to keep BP<100 as raising BP could dislodge any clot and cause further bleeding
Transfer to local vascular unit: if unstable immediate theatre for open surgical repair, if stable CT angiogram to determine if suitable for endovascular repair
Where are the common locations for aneurysms in the body?
AAA most commonly infrarenal
What is an aortic dissection?
A tear in the intimal layer of the aortic wall causing blood to flow between the tunica intima and media, splitting the two apart
Acute < or equal to 14 days to diagnosis
Chronic > 14 days to diagnosis
How can aortic dissections be classified?
Stanford Classification
A - Debakey Type I and II involving ascending aorta
B - Debakey Type III and do not involve ascending aorta
DeBakey Classification
I - originates in ascending aorta and propagates to at least aortic arch
II - confined to asending aorta
III - originates distal to subclavian artery in descending aorta
What are some risk factors for an aortic dissection?
- Hypertension
- Atherosclerotic diease
- Male
- Connective tissue disorders (Marfan’s and EDS in younger pt)
- Bicuspid aortic valve