Catheter-Based Treatment for Peripheral Artery Disease

Outlook

Always follow your doctor’s instructions about the activity level appropriate for you. Once you leave the hospital, your care after the procedure will be twofold:

• You’ll need to take care of yourself by taking medication exactly as prescribed and making lifestyle changes such as exercising, improving your diet, and quitting smoking (if you smoke).
• You should also have at least one follow-up appointment with your treating interventional cardiologist or another qualified specialist if you cannot return to your treating doctor. At this appointment, your interventional cardiologist will examine the catheter insertion site to be sure it’s healing properly. Continued treatment by wound care experts will be ongoing in patients with nonhealing wounds at the catheter insertion site.

Arteries can become blocked again after they have been treated, which is known as restenosis. If this happens, you may experience leg or foot pain again, and a second procedure may be needed to re-treat the artery. This is why taking your medications exactly as prescribed is extremely important, for they help protect your health and keep your blood vessels from clogging again.