Peripheral Artery Disease Test for Diabetes Patients

Peripheral Artery Disease Test for Diabetes Patients Dr. Travis Stork: With silent illnesses you don’t even know you have it and one in three diabetics will develop something called Peripheral Artery Disease, PD can affect anyone and a simple screening test can help save lives. We’re here with Doctor Lee Rogers. He’s the director of the Amputation Prevention Center of Valley Presbyterian Hospital here in L.A. He’s with Zavier*, now Zavier was recently diagnosed with diabetes which is a risk factor for arterial disease and so we’re going to do a test here to see whether now Zavier has PAD. Dr. Lee Rogers: Exactly, this is a noninvasive skin perfusion test that is more accurately diagnosed PAD especially those with diabetes. Dr. Travis Stork: Let’s do it. Zavier are you ready? Zavier: Yes. Dr. Lisa Masterson: I think he’s ready. He’s all that we got. The screening is absolutely critical. If you’re overweight, if you smoke, if you have a family history of diabetes or any history of hypertension or vascular disease then you’ve got to get screened because you maybe at high risk. Dr. Travis Stork: So what are we seeing here with Zavier. Dr. Lee Rogers: That -- system, it’s usually a laser Doppler underneath a blood pressure cuff and it can tell you what the pressure is in the tiny capillaries in the skin. We can also see the changes in blood volume in the Arteries with every beat of the heart. Dr. Travis Stork: So what are we seeing with Zavier? Dr. Lee Rogers: This is actually live footage now of the cuff inflated. As you can see below it’s the cuff pressure so that’s a millimeters in mercury just like your blood pressure. And then at the point at which that starts to spike that’s going to be his skin perfusion pressure and that’s the pressure inside of his capillaries and then this drop off is normal with your venous return after it’s already got the result. Dr. Travis Stork: Alright what are seeing here? Dr. Lee Rogers: This is a PVR waveform it gives you the volume of the blood going through the arteries and normally what you want to see is you want to see three distinct waves in this waveform which we do in his case and it shows that his arteries are actually pulsating and they're not hardened from diabetes yet and his vessels are very compliant so he is negative for Peripheral Arterial Disease. Dr. Travis Stork: Alright, Zavier Zavier: Great! Dr. Lisa Masterson: That’s great. Dr. Travis Stork: And the reason this is so important, when you hear the word PAD Peripheral Artery Disease, the reason it’s so important, 10 million of you out there are suffering from this. This is a -- for other things. If your arteries in your feet are bad, your arteries to your heart are most likely bad. And we actually have some pictures of what can happen to your feet if you suffer from this. To start off is a harmless looking ulcer, infection can then lead to something that none of us want which is amputation of toes or even legs and that’s why it’s so important to get screened especially for those with diabetes. Dr. Lee Rogers: Exactly. The American diabetes association recommends screening every five years after the diagnoses of diabetes. Dr. Travis Stork: So Zavier you can stay on top of this best of luck to you. Zavier: Thank you. Dr. Travis Stork: Thank you so very much, we appreciate it.