With the advent of winter, many older people, like Yang, began to appear after the activity of leg pain, and even walk with a limp, many people tend to think is cold, “old cold leg” onset. But this “old cold leg” in the end is how a thing? It is the lower extremity atherosclerosis occlusive disease that attacks or worsens every year as the temperature drops. Vascular surgery experts reminded that this disease needs to be checked and treated at the hospital as soon as possible. A. What is lower extremity atherosclerosis occlusive disease? The arteries of human body are like an oil pipeline, arterial blood flows in the arteries every moment, just like the crude oil in human body, and the heart is like an oil pump, which continuously delivers energy to various tissues and organs through different pipelines, and the pipelines leading to the lower limbs mainly include the thoracic aorta, abdominal aorta, iliac artery, femoral artery, N artery and arteries of the lower legs. Lower extremity atherosclerosis occlusive disease refers to the formation of atherosclerotic plaque on the inner wall of the artery. As the plaque continues to grow, the lumen gradually narrows, the patency of the pipeline is affected, the blood flow to the lower extremity is reduced, and when the narrowing reaches a certain level or even completely blocked, the blood flow supplying the lower extremity cannot meet the needs, and the symptoms of lower extremity ischemia will appear. Is lower extremity arteriosclerosis occlusive disease common? Lower extremity atherosclerosis occlusive disease belongs to the category of vascular surgery, which is a very common disease. In China, with the improvement of people’s living standard, the change of diet structure, and the aging of the population, the number of cases diagnosed with lower extremity atherosclerosis occlusive disease has a tendency to increase year by year. There are currently about 20 million patients in China, and it is estimated that the number will continue to increase by about 600,000 each year. The disease is more common in Europe and the United States, with literature reporting 3-10% of people under the age of 70 and 15-20% of people over the age of 70. The majority of patients with the disease are men, mostly in the older age group. Third, what causes atherosclerosis of the lower extremities? The occurrence of lower extremity atherosclerosis-occlusive disease is closely related to lifestyle. The diet structure is not healthy enough, sweet tooth, high saturated fat food such as red meat, excessive salt intake, lack of exercise, overweight is prone to diabetes, hypertension or hyperlipidemia. Diabetes, smoking, hypertension and hyperlipidemia are the four major killers of lower extremity arterial disease. Diabetes can increase the onset of lower extremity atherosclerotic occlusive disease by 3-5 times, and, in patients with combined diabetes, the lesions are often much more severe than in other patients. Smoking is a recognized killer of human health, and smoking can also cause arterial constriction, contribute to arterial narrowing, accelerate the formation of atherosclerosis, aggravate limb ischemia, and is one of the main risk factors for lower extremity atherosclerosis. Long-term hypertension can cause vascular damage and easily form plaque causing stenosis. High blood lipids cause increased blood viscosity, which is also prone to vascular stenosis and leads to lower extremity atherosclerotic occlusive disease. The environment is also closely related to the occurrence of lower extremity atherosclerotic occlusive disease. Cold and humid environments are prone to develop, so the incidence is higher in the north. Cold weather and vasoconstriction can also lead to aggravation of the original lesion, so patients with lower extremity atherosclerosis often experience worsening symptoms in winter. Fourth, what are the symptoms of lower extremity atherosclerosis occlusive disease? The early stage of lower limb atherosclerosis is often characterized by coldness, numbness, and leg muscle spasms, commonly known as “cramps”, and because these early symptoms are not typical, they are easily confused with other diseases, so they are often mistaken for calcium deficiency in the elderly or lumbar spondylosis, resulting in misdiagnosis and mistreatment, which delays their condition. Therefore, patients who have these symptoms should be reminded to go to the vascular surgery department of a regular hospital to confirm the diagnosis through scientific examination means. If the lesion continues to develop, symptoms of claudication may occur. Doctors call the claudication caused by this disease “intermittent claudication”, characterized by pain in the lower extremities after walking about hundreds to tens of meters, usually manifested as soreness in the calf muscles, but also pain in other parts of the lower extremities, the patient is forced to stop and rest for a period of time to relieve the pain, and can continue to walk, and continue to move pain can The pain can recur with continued activity. As the lesion worsens, the distance over which the pain appears becomes shorter and shorter, from several hundred meters to finally a dozen meters or even a few meters, requiring prompt treatment. If the symptoms of claudication are not treated and the lesion continues to deteriorate, “resting pain” will appear, and the patient will still have pain in the lower limbs even when not exercising, especially at night when sleeping, making it difficult for the patient to sleep and eat and nervousness. At this stage, the patient must be treated actively, otherwise the disease will enter an advanced stage. After entering the advanced stage, even a little break in the foot is very difficult to heal, and the lower limb gradually becomes necrotic, and eventually the necrotic limb can only be amputated, which is even life-threatening in serious cases.