Understanding the etiopathogenesis of Uttana Vatarakta (peripheral vascular disease) - An Observational Study

Advanced life style and changing food habits affects the activities of individual which leads to many diseases and Peripheral Vascular Diseases are one among them. They are characterized by reduction of blood flow and oxygen supply through peripheral vascular vessels. This can happen in arteries or veins. The incidence of Varicose vein is more common with age and high prevalence is after 30 years of life. PAD occurs in patients over 40 years old; the highest incidence occurs in the sixth and seventh decades of life and it affects 10-15% of the general population. The symptoms of Uttana Vatarakta owing to the Margavarana pathology simulate with the symptoms of Peripheral vascular diseases and some of the etiological factors of Uttana Vatarakta in the writing are specific in inclining Peripheral Vascular Diseases. Ayurveda emphasise the importance of study on etiopathogenesis of disease before the planning of treatment protocol. In this study an effort is done to identify the Nidanas and pattern of Samprapti in relation with Peripheral vascular diseases for the better understanding of different clinical presentations of Uttana Vatarakta

The role of physical activity in prevention and treatment of peripheral vascular disorders

Peripheral vascular diseases constitute one of the most significant medical and social problems. Physiotherapy plays an important role among and in addition to various treatment modalities. Physiotherapy for vascular applied in vessel disease treatment primaliry consists of resonable and regular exercises and activities, and selected physical procedures. The review paper presents current data concerning the most commonly applied exercises and physical procedures in selected peripheral vascular diseases

Photoplethysmography and electrocardiography for real time evaluation of pulse transit time A diagnostic marker of peripheral vascular diseases

In this work, we report the results of a project, devoted to the development of a real time analysis for non-invasive monitoring of pulse transit time values on people affected by peripheral vascular diseases. Pulse transit time was computed as the time difference between every R-peak of the electrocardiographic signal and the following photopletysmographic peak. Both types of signals were acquired from 12 volunteers and real time signal analysis was performed in LabVIEW. Pathological conditions were simulated on every individual by means of an external cuff pressure applied on their arm. As expected, a PTT increase for increasing values of applied pressure was observed for all the volunteers. The proposed real time analysis could be suggested as a new, non-invasive optical method for real time monitoring of pulse transit time on patients affected by peripheral vascular diseases

Relevance of comorbidities for main outcomes during different periods of the COVID-19 pandemic

Background: Throughout the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic, the severity of the disease has varied. The aim of this study was to determine how patients' comorbidities affected and were related to, different outcomes during this time. Methods: Retrospective cohort study of all patients testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection between March 1, 2020, and January 9, 2022. We extracted sociodemographic, basal comorbidities, prescribed treatments, COVID-19 vaccination data, and outcomes such as death and admission to hospital and intensive care unit (ICU) during the different periods of the pandemic. We used logistic regression to quantify the effect of each covariate in each outcome variable and a random forest algorithm to select the most relevant comorbidities. Results: Predictors of death included having dementia, heart failure, kidney disease, or cancer, while arterial hypertension, diabetes, ischemic heart, cerebrovascular, peripheral vascular diseases, and leukemia were also relevant. Heart failure, dementia, kidney disease, diabetes, and cancer were predictors of adverse evolution (death or ICU admission) with arterial hypertension, ischemic heart, cerebrovascular, peripheral vascular diseases, and leukemia also relevant. Arterial hypertension, heart failure, diabetes, kidney, ischemic heart diseases, and cancer were predictors of hospitalization, while dyslipidemia and respiratory, cerebrovascular, and peripheral vascular diseases were also relevant. Conclusions: Preexisting comorbidities such as dementia, cardiovascular and renal diseases, and cancers were those most related to adverse outcomes. Of particular note were the discrepancies between predictors of adverse outcomes and predictors of hospitalization and the fact that patients with dementia had a lower probability of being admitted in the first wave

Cochrane Collaborative Review Group on Peripheral Vascular Diseases: Review abstracts

AbstractEur J Vasc Endovasc Surg 26, 242-244 (2003

Major Limb Amputations: A Tertiary Hospital Experience in Northwestern Tanzania.

Major limb amputation is reported to be a major but preventable public health problem that is associated with profound economic, social and psychological effects on the patient and family especially in developing countries where the prosthetic services are poor. The purpose of this study was to outline the patterns, indications and short term complications of major limb amputations and to compare our experience with that of other published data. This was a descriptive cross-sectional study that was conducted at Bugando Medical Centre between March 2008 and February 2010. All patients who underwent major limb amputation were, after informed consent for the study, enrolled into the study. Data were collected using a pre-tested, coded questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS version 11.5 computer software. A total of 162 patients were entered into the study. Their ages ranged between 2-78 years (mean 28.30 ± 13.72 days). Males outnumbered females by a ratio of 2:1. The majority of patients (76.5%) had primary or no formal education. One hundred and twelve (69.1%) patients were unemployed. The most common indication for major limb amputation was diabetic foot complications in 41.9%, followed by trauma in 38.4% and vascular disease in 8.6% respectively. Lower limbs were involved in 86.4% of cases and upper limbs in 13.6% of cases giving a lower limb to upper limb ratio of 6.4:1 Below knee amputation was the most common procedure performed in 46.3%. There was no bilateral limb amputation. The most common additional procedures performed were wound debridement, secondary suture and skin grafting in 42.3%, 34.5% and 23.2% respectively. Two-stage operation was required in 45.4% of patients. Revision amputation rate was 29.6%. Post-operative complication rate was 33.3% and surgical site infection was the most common complication accounting for 21.0%. The mean length of hospital stay was 22.4 days and mortality rate was 16.7%. Complications of diabetic foot ulcers and trauma resulting from road traffic crashes were the most common indications for major limb amputation in our environment. The majority of these amputations are preventable by provision of health education, early presentation and appropriate management of the common indications