Vascular Disease Overview
Vascular diseases affect the circulatory system. They include hypertension, stroke, aneurysms, and peripheral artery disease (PAD). Due to an aging population, an increase in obesity and chronic conditions like Type II diabetes, vascular diseases are a growing epidemic. Find out more about the many different conditions that can affect your circulatory system outside of the heart.
What happens during a vascular study?
A vascular study may be done on an outpatient basis, which means you go home the same day. Or it may be done as part of a hospital stay. Procedures may vary depending on your condition and your provider’s practices.
Generally, a vascular study follows this process:
You will be asked to remove any jewelry or other objects that may interfere with the procedure. You may wear your glasses, dentures, or hearing aid if you use any of these.
If you are asked to remove clothing, you will be given a gown to wear.
You will lie on an exam table or bed.
A clear gel will be placed on your skin at locations where the pulse is expected to be heard.
The Doppler probe will be pressed against your skin and moved around over the area of the artery or vein being studied.
When blood flow is detected, you will hear a “whoosh, whoosh” sound. The probe will be moved around to compare blood flow in different areas of the artery or vein.
For arterial studies of the legs, blood pressure cuffs will be used. They are put on 3 different places on your leg: your thigh, calf, and ankle. This is done to compare the blood pressure in these areas. The cuff around your thigh will be inflated first. The blood pressure is checked by putting the Doppler probe just below the cuff.
The cuff around your calf will be inflated, and the blood pressure checked.
The cuff around your ankle will be inflated, and the blood pressure checked.
Blood pressure is then taken in the arm that’s on the same side as the leg that was just studied. This is used to find out how much the blood flow is blocked in your legs.
When the procedure is over, the gel will be removed from your skin.
Understanding The Vascular System
Arteries carry oxygen-rich blood from the heart, nourishing every part of the body. The one exception is the pulmonary artery, which carries oxygen-poor blood from your heart to your lungs, where it exchanges carbon dioxide for oxygen.
Veins carry the blood back to the heart where it is replenished with oxygen. The newly oxygen-rich blood gets pumped back into the heart via the pulmonary vein.
Capillaries connect the arteries to the veins. Vascular disease commonly occurs at sites of unstable blood flow. For example, when the blood flow in the arteries changes direction suddenly.