Is peripheral artery disease serious?

If you have peripheral artery disease (PAD), this means that there is blockage or narrowing of the arteries in your legs from furring or fatty deposition into the walls of the arteries (termed atherosclerosis) in your legs. This can affect your walking by causing leg pain (termed claudication), reducing your quality of life and mobility. If the artery blockage is substantial and especially if you are diabetic, wounds on your feet and legs may not heal up and may turn black (gangrene) meaning there is not enough blood supply to heal the wound. You need urgent attention by a vascular surgeon to open up the arteries to your legs and feet immediately if you have gangrene and this is called critical limb ischemia or chronic limb threatening ischemia. If you have PAD you are also at risk for developing coronary heart disease (leading to heart attack/unstable angina) and cerebrovascular disease (leading to stroke or mini stroke), because atherosclerosis is a systemic disease (affects all arteries around the body).