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If you have peripheral arterial disease, the big blood vessels in your body, called arteries, become too narrow. Your arteries carry blood from your heart to the rest of your body. Peripheral arterial disease usually affects the arteries that go through your abdomen and groin and then down to your legs. Peripheral arterial disease is sometimes called PAD for short.

Every cell in your body needs oxygen and nutrients from blood to survive. If the arteries in your legs become too narrow, not enough blood, oxygen and nutrients get through. The muscle and other cells in your leg may die. If your leg gets badly damaged, it may have to be amputated. But this is doesn't happen to many people.¹

Arteries usually become narrow when clumps of fat (called plaques) build up in the wall of the artery. Over time, these plaques make your artery narrower, stiffer and rougher. This is called atherosclerosis.

If a plaque breaks open, a blood clot forms over the tear. The clot tries to patch up the plaque, just like a scab on your skin if you cut yourself. Doctors call this clot a thrombus. The thrombus may make your artery even narrower, or block it completely.

Sometimes a clot in an artery in another part of your body can break off and reach your leg. It may attach itself to the inside of an artery in your leg. So the artery in your leg becomes narrow or gets blocked. When a clot from another part of your body gets stuck in a leg artery, it's called an embolus.

If the arteries in your legs have become narrow, other important arteries to your heart or your brain may also have become too narrow or blocked. If the arteries to your heart are too narrow, you may get chest pain. To read more, see our information on Angina. If you're a man and arteries in other parts of your body are affected, you may get pain in your back or your buttocks, or you may get erection problems.

You are more likely to get peripheral arterial disease if:^{2 3}

• You're over 50
• You're a man
• You smoke
• You have diabetes
• You have high blood pressure
• You have high cholesterol
• You're overweight
• You don't get much exercise.

This information is for educational use only, and is not a substitute for prompt professional medical advice. Readers should always consult a physician or other professional for advice and treatment. ©BMJ Publishing Group Limited 2008. All rights reserved.