Q: What is atherosclerotic occlusive disease? A: Atherosclerosis is the most common disease in the elderly, with a prevalence of 79.9% in people over 60 years of age in China. In peripheral vessels, the continuous expansion of atheromatous material and secondary thrombosis can cause arterial lumen narrowing and occlusion, resulting in chronic or acute ischemic symptoms in limbs or organs, a disease known as atherosclerotic occlusive disease. Q: Which blood vessels in the body are prone to atherosclerosis? A: Atherosclerosis easily occurs in the abdominal aorta, carotid arteries, coronary arteries of the heart, lower limb arteries, etc. Depending on where it occurs, the consequences are different, but they are usually very serious. For example, carotid atherosclerosis can lead to stroke due to the detachment of hardened plaque; while coronary atherosclerosis can lead to coronary heart disease or even myocardial infarction; lower extremity atherosclerosis can cause gangrene of the limbs; and abdominal aortic atherosclerosis can cause aneurysm, which can lead to death due to hemorrhage once it ruptures. Q: Who are prone to atherosclerosis? A: Atherosclerosis usually occurs in elderly people over 50 years old, and there are more gay men than lesbians, and it is often accompanied by diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and long-term smokers are also prone to get this disease. Q: I used to be in good health, but recently my doctor said I have atherosclerosis, how did this happen? A: Atherosclerosis is a chronic process that develops gradually. The results of epidemiological surveys show that the three major risk factors for atherosclerosis are: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and smoking, which are related to the occurrence and development of atherosclerosis. Q: What is intermittent claudication? A: Intermittent claudication refers to walking a certain distance and then feeling soreness or spasm in the calf muscles, which must be relieved after resting for a certain period of time. When walking a similar distance again, the symptoms will appear again and so on. Intermittent claudication is an early symptom of insufficient arterial blood supply to the lower extremities. Q: My feet often feel cold and painful, can I use hot water bags on them? A: Patients with lower extremity atherosclerosis will feel cold toes at the beginning of the disease, and often use a hot water bag to warm them up. In fact, this will only aggravate the disease. Because the hot water bag makes the local temperature rise at the same time, the local metabolism will also enhance, and then the oxygen consumption of the tissue will also increase. And due to the lack of blood supply after arterial occlusion, it is impossible to increase oxygen supply. Therefore local heating will aggravate tissue hypoxia. In addition, cold water stimulation should also be avoided, otherwise it will cause vasospasm. Q: Recently I felt pain in my toes at night and had to sit up and rub the back of my feet for half a day without being able to sleep, why is this? A: This symptom is medically known as “resting pain”, which is a manifestation of severe ischemia in the lower limbs. It often occurs at night when the patient is resting in bed, and usually manifests as severe pain in the toes or the front of the foot. Patients are often awakened from sleep with pain that can only be relieved by draping the lower leg over the side of the bed or by getting up and walking. Resting pain is often indicative of increased arterial ischemia and is a precursor to limb gangrene. Q: How do I know if I have atherosclerotic occlusive disease? Do I need to do a lot of tests to confirm the diagnosis? A: For a professional vascular surgeon, the diagnosis of atherosclerosis occlusion is not difficult. In general, the doctor will be able to initially determine whether you have arterial disease based on your medical history and the results of arterial palpation. Of course, in order to further clarify the condition and treatment, vascular ultrasound, SCTA, MRA, etc. are required. Many physicians often misdiagnose and miss the diagnosis because they do not know how to perform arterial palpation.