Medicine Cardiology News Archive Featured in the Media JeffNEWS

At age 76, Seymour Saslow is far from ready to really retire. A Certified Public Accountant, he still goes into the office--more often than his wife Selma would like--to attend meetings and help out during busy times.

The fact that he has diabetes also hasn’t slowed down Mr. Saslow. He and his wife venture into Center City from their suburban home to attend concerts at the Kimmel Center and the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. And, although he is on temporary hiatus from playing golf due to a broken ankle, he does go to a gym regularly to build up the ankle and keep his strength.  

He also sees a podiatrist every four to five weeks to make sure that he doesn’t become another statistic. He knows that many people who suffer from diabetes develop foot and leg problems due to the disease.

It was at one of these routine visits when the podiatrist checked his pulse near his ankles, that it was found that the pulse on his left leg was not normal. For Seymour Saslow, this was the beginning of his experience with peripheral artery disease.

Álso known as hardening of the leg arteries, peripheral artery disease affects as many as 15 million people in the United States,” says Craig Frankil, D.O., director of Peripheral Vascular Intervention at the Jefferson Heart Institute of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia. “In some cases, it is never diagnosed. Because it isn’t identified, in addition to suffering problems with their circulation and sometimes a great deal of pain, half of the affected patients experience tissue loss or gangrene which may lead to a partial leg amputation.”

Knowing that he had a potential problem, Mr. Saslow immediately made an appointment to see his internist. Using a non-invasive Doppler test, the physician confirmed a circulation problem in his left leg. The next step for Mr. Saslow, his internist said, was the Jefferson Heart Institute at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.

At the Jefferson Heart Institute, a new FDA-approved device is giving hope to patients like Mr. Saslow, to help their peripheral artery disease.

The pain, or sometimes numbness that people experience, results from a plaque buildup along the artery walls, which causes interruption in blood flow in a person’s leg. Physicians use a miniature drill to “shave” the plaque from the artery walls. Almost immediately, the circulation in the artery is back to normal. In less than an hour, as soon as they are able to walk, patients are frequently ecstatic because the pain or tingling they came to expect when walking is gone.

Plaque removal from leg arteries is a minimally invasive procedure performed in Jefferson’s cardiac catheterization lab.

It begins when the physician feeds a small wire catheter through the patient’s groin until it reaches the clogged arteries. Then the device, know as the SilverHawk, is inserted. Guided by continuous x-ray images, the physician uses the wire as a guide, and eases the device--which uses a tiny rotating blade about the size of a grain of rice--to the affected area. Once in place, the SilverHawk shaves plaque from the vessel walls. 

To dispose of the plaque, the physician activates the blade of the device and advances it through the vessel. The blade is pushed into the nose cone, where the collected plaque is deposited.

When undergoing the plaque excision procedure at Jefferson University Hospital, patients are given a local anesthetic. The procedure is completed in less than 30 minutes, Dr. Frankil says. The patient also stays in the hospital overnight.

Seymour Saslow reports that he no longer has the tingling he was experiencing in his left foot and ankle.

About one third of patients with coronary artery disease also suffer from peripheral artery disease, explains Dr. Frankil, who is also instructor of Medicine at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University. In these patients, the new procedure will eliminate a risk factor for coronary artery disease.

For information about treatment of peripheral artery disease or to make an appointment with the physicians at the Jefferson Heart Institute, call 1-800-JEFF-NOW.