2, 5 – 7 It is recommended that health care providers use valid and reliable, non-invasive tests such as the ABI to detect LEAD. 4Īpproximately half of individuals with LEAD are undiagnosed because they are asymptomatic or have atypical symptoms and health care providers use unreliable methods to assess for LEAD such as pulse palpation or a history of claudication. 3 More recently, investigators in a population-based study in Sweden (N = 5080), reported the prevalence of LEAD was 18%. study (N = 6979), 29% of individuals aged 70 years or older and 29% of individuals aged 50 through 69 years (that have a history of tobacco use or diabetes), had LEAD based on an ABI of less than 0.9. 2 Current data about prevalence and incidence of LEAD in the U.S. Risk factors for LEAD are advanced age, tobacco use, diabetes, dyslipidemia, hypertension, hyperhomocysteinemia, chronic renal insufficiency, family history of cardiovascular disease and African American ethnicity. Lower extremity arterial disease (LEAD) is a chronic, progressive disease. Revised: 2011 Background Introduction to Problems/Needs Updated/Revised: WOCN Wound Committee, 2010-2011 WOCN Clinical Practice Wound Subcommittee, 2005 1 Its purpose is to provide clinicians with relevant information about the ankle brachial index (ABI) and a research-based protocol to use in performing the ABI to insure reliability and validity of the results. This suggests that calcification of atherosclerotic plaque yields other information in addition to merely the presence of plaques, providing novel insights into the etiology of vascular brain disease.This document was originally developed by the WOCN Society's Clinical Practice Wound Subcommittee as a best practice document for clinicians. Most notably, larger intracranial carotid calcification load relates to larger WML volumes, and larger extracranial carotid calcification load relates to the presence of cerebral infarcts, independently of ultrasound carotid plaque score. No associations were found between calcification and cerebral microbleeds.Īrterial calcification in major vessel beds is associated with vascular brain disease on magnetic resonance imaging. Adjustment for cardiovascular risk factors or ultrasound carotid plaque scores did not change these results. The most prominent associations were found between intracranial carotid calcification and WML volume and between extracranial carotid calcification and infarcts. Calcification in each vessel bed was associated with presence of cerebral infarcts and with larger WML volume. Brain magnetic resonance imaging scans were performed to assess cerebral infarcts, microbleeds, and white matter lesions (WMLs). We investigated the relationship between calcification in various vessel beds outside the brain and imaging markers of vascular brain disease.Ī total of 885 community-dwelling people (mean age, 66.7 years) underwent computed tomography of the coronary arteries, aortic arch, and extracranial and intracranial carotid arteries to assess arterial calcification. However, its relationship with cerebrovascular disease has not been investigated extensively. Calcification in atherosclerotic plaques is a novel marker of atherosclerosis and is related to cardiovascular disease.