John Cockrell considers himself old fashion. So, when John began feeling a burning sensation in his legs he just chalked it up to a cramp.

"You walk it off, you don't worry about all those little aches and pains. I could walk 100 yards and stop for maybe 1 1/2 to 2 minutes and everything would go back to normal."

After three months, he went to a doctor.

"He said I had about 80 percent flow in my left leg and 20 percent flow in my right," Cockrell said.

Cockrell had P.A.D. or Peripheral Artery Disease.

The Director Vascular Intervention Center at Mid-Florida Cardiology, Dr. Barry Weinstock said,  "When plaque builds up inside an artery you have two choices. You can either push it out of the way and keep it out of the way with a balloon or stint or you can take the approach we favor which is vaporizing it."

Cockrell chose to vaporize it with Excimer laser ablation.

"This is an outpatient procedure and patients remain in a state of conscious sedation. There's no incision, there's no scar, low chance of infection. Also, you preserve that vein that's also used in bypass for other reasons," Dr. Weinstock said.

Symptoms of P.A.D. include pain while walking, sores or ulcers on the feet, especially if you are a smoker.

If left untreated, it can cause gangrene that gets so bad the limb needs to be amputated.

John's P.A.D. got close to the point where it was cutting off circulation. Since the procedure, he is feeling fine. In fact, he was out on the Forest Lake Golf Course just one week later.

That's Your Health and Fitness,
Nancy Gay Central Florida News 13.
 
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