Foreword
Article Outline
Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) affects a very large number of people in the USA and poses a great risk for poor outcomes. There is a strong relationship between PAD and coronary artery disease and between PAD and cerebrovascular disease. The commonly recognized risk factors for coronary artery disease also apply to PAD but smoking and diabetes are particularly high risk factors for PAD. Treatment of all of these risk factors is important.
The greatest advance in recent times has been in percutaneous endovascular therapy. This has changed the management of these patients, which include the need for early diagnosis of PAD, joint efforts of several subspecialty experts in an integrated approach to the patient, and exploration of newer applications.
Dr. Tanvir Bajwa, an excellent interventional cardiologist, has vast experience in this field both as a clinician and as a teacher. He and his colleagues have put together a superb article that is comprehensive and detailed and also has an exhaustive bibliography of 412 references.
The Editorial Board and I are grateful to them for this extremely useful effort.
PII: S0146-2806(09)00073-5
doi:10.1016/j.cpcardiol.2009.05.002
© 2009 Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.
