Infrainguinal Disease

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is an exceedingly common disease attributed to multiple risk factors, most of which are modifiable. Clinical decisions regarding treatment options are dependent on the distribution and severity of PAD and the patient’s clinical presentation. This chapter is dedicated to discussing the diagnosis and management of atherosclerotic disease distal to the inguinal ligament. The approach to infrainguinal PAD treatment is multidisciplinary, with interventional radiology (IR) playing a pivotal role. It is from treating PAD that the field of IR was born, when in 1964 Dr. Charles Dotter successfully treated a woman’s non-healing foot ulcer with balloon angioplasty of an upstream arterial stenosis.