Walk pain-free again. Minimally invasive PAD treatment in Dallas
Clear arterial blockages and relieve leg cramping in a quick, outpatient procedure.
Are heavy, painful, or cramping legs holding you back from enjoying walks at the Dallas Arboretum, visiting White Rock Lake, or hitting the golf course? You might be experiencing Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD).
While persistent leg pain is often dismissed as a normal part of growing older or basic muscle fatigue, the true source is often restricted blood flow. Over time, plaque gradually accumulates within your arterial walls. As these deposits harden and expand, they create a bottleneck for oxygen-rich blood trying to reach your lower extremities.
Is chronic leg pain is making every step a challenge? Take our 2 minute quiz to see if you you should be screened for PAD.
This restricted blood supply deprives your leg muscles of oxygen during activity, triggering the burning, cramping, and pain (claudication). If left untreated, PAD can progress from painful walking to resting pain, non-healing foot ulcers, tissue loss, and an elevated risk of heart attack or stroke.
At Advantage Vascular, we offer minimally invasive outpatient procedures that target the root cause of Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD), restricted blood flow caused by plaque buildup.
What is Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD)?
Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD) is a common, progressive circulatory condition in which narrowed arteries reduce blood flow to your limbs—most frequently your legs.
When the blood vessels that carry blood from your heart to your legs become partially blocked by plaque (atherosclerosis), your muscles can no longer get the oxygen and nutrients they need. This lack of circulation is what causes pain, slow-healing wounds, and other symptoms in your lower body.
What are the risk factors of PAD
Peripheral Artery Disease is most prevalent in people over 50 with a history of:
Smoking
Diabetes
Gangrene
Hypertension
High cholesterol
History of heart disease
History of stroke
Discoloration of limbs
What are the key symptoms of PAD?
PAD presentation can range from entirely asymptomatic to debilitating pain. The most common clinical signs include:
Fatigue, discomfort, cramping, or vascular pain in the calf, thigh, or buttock muscles that is consistently induced by walking or exertion and resolved within 10 minutes of rest .
Up to 50% of patients experience leg pain and cramping when walking, leg numbness and tingling.
An advanced symptom manifesting as burning pain or numbness in the toes, forefoot, or ankle that often awakens patients at night when the legs are flat or elevated.
Cool skin, diminished or absent lower extremity pulses, color changes in the legs, slow capillary refill, shiny skin, loss of leg hair, or structural leg muscle atrophy.
As PAD progresses, the development of non-healing wounds is likely. This is due to insufficient blood flow to the feet and calves from plaque build up in the arteries. If left untreated this can develop into Gangrene and will likely lead to amputation.
Finding peripheral artery disease before it advances gives you the best chance to stop it in its tracks, long before it leads to severe leg pain, non-healing ulcers, or amputation.
How is PAD diagnosed?
Accurate, early detection is essential to preventing disease progression and protecting your vascular health. At Advantage Vascular, our board-certified vascular specialists use a combination of clinical evaluation and advanced diagnostic imaging to identify arterial blockages and map blood flow with precision.
The primary screening test used to diagnose PAD. A non-invasive test, ABI compares systolic blood pressure measured at your ankles to blood pressure in your arms using standard cuffs and a Doppler probe. An ABI score of 0.90 or lower indicates reduced arterial blood flow.
A non-invasive ultrasound that uses high-frequency sound waves to visualize blood vessel structure and measure the speed of blood flow, enabling our team to pinpoint exact areas of plaque accumulation or blockage.
Specifically helpful for individuals with diabetes or chronic kidney disease, whose ankle arteries may be stiff or calcified. TBI measures pressure in the small toe arteries to ensure diagnostic accuracy when ABI readings are abnormally high (> 1.40).
Cross-sectional imaging techniques (CT Angiography or MR Angiography) provide detailed 3D vascular visualization. Minimally invasive catheter angiography uses contrast dye under live X-ray to map blockages precisely prior to or during a planned revascularization procedure.
What are the treatment options for PAD?
The first step in treating mild disease with limited symptoms is to stop smoking, get regular exercise, eat a health diet.
Medicines to treat peripheral artery disease may include statins to lower bad cholesterol, and medicines to control blood pressure, diabetes, blood clots and leg pain.
When lifestyle changes and medications aren't enough, we can physically open the blockages inside your leg arteries. These advanced, outpatient treatments require no major surgery or hospital stays.
A tiny balloon is threaded into the artery and inflated to press the plaque open and restore flow.
A tiny mesh tube is placed inside the artery to act as a scaffold, keeping the pathway permanently open.
Atherectomy is the removal of plaque from inside the artery to allow for more blood flow. This is done prior to balloon and stenting and used when the plaque is very hard or calcified, the blockage is in an awkward spot or when standard balloons or stents might not fully expand due to the buildup.
If stents and balloons have been unsuccessful then bypass surgery is needed. Through a small incision and using an existing vein or a graft, the surgeon will attach the graft above and below the blockage restoring flow to the leg. The recovery is typically a few days in the hospital and several weeks at home.
At Advantage Vascular, we are dedicated to providing the advanced care you deserve. Scheduling a consultation is simple. You can call our Dallas office at (972)483-5714 or use our online form.
Sources:
- American Academy of Family Physicians [AAFP]. (2013). Diagnosis and treatment of peripheral arterial disease. American Family Physician, 88(5), 306-310.
- American Academy of Family Physicians [AAFP]. (2019). Lower extremity peripheral artery disease: Diagnosis and treatment. American Family Physician, 99(6), 362-369.
- Golledge, J., & Drovandi, A. (2021). Evidence-based recommendations for medical management of peripheral artery disease. Journal of Atherosclerosis and Thrombosis, 28(6), 573-583.
- Patel, M. R., Conte, M. S., Cutlip, D. E., Dib, N., Geraghty, P., Gray, W., Hiatt, W. R., Ho, M., Ikeda, K., Ikeno, F., Jaff, M. R., Jones, W. S., Kawahara, M., Lookstein, R. A., Mehran, R., Misra, S., Norgren, L., Olin, J. W., Povsic, T. J., Rosenfield, K., Rundback, J., Shamoun, F., Tcheng, J., Tsai, T. T., & Suzuki, Y. (2015). Evaluation and treatment of patients with lower extremity peripheral artery disease. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 65(9), 931-941.
- StatPearls. (2026a). Peripheral arterial disease (Etiology, history and physical evaluation). StatPearls Publishing; NCBI Bookshelf.
- StatPearls. (2026b). Peripheral arterial disease (Treatment, management and complications). StatPearls Publishing; NCBI Bookshelf.