Smoking Causes Pain: Another Reason to QuitInterventional Radiologists, medical doctors who specialize in the vascular system, are urging smokers to quit. Not just because smoking causes cancer but because it damages arteries in the legs which can lead to other vascular disease including a heart attack and stroke.
Most smokers are aware of cancer risk, but few know about the effects of smoking on the vascular system. Interventional Radiologists see first hand the damage that smoking causes to the arteries and the accompanying leg pain that many smokers suffer. For some the pain is so severe, it limits their ability to walk.
More than 10 million Americans suffer from a hardening of the arteries in the legs, peripheral vascular disease, PVD.
Diagnosis for PVD is simple. A blood pressure test compares the pressure in the ankle to the pressure in the arm, known as an ankle brachial index test. Treatment includes a supervised exercise program and stopping smoking.
Produced for the Society of Interventional Radiology
