Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD) is a silent, but highly dangerous cardiovascular condition on the rise. Its consequences include death and amputation. MESI’s one-minute ABI measurement aims to bring easy PAD detection to every GP office. Here is how this short minute made a tremendous difference for one of the 230 million adults affected by PAD worldwide.

Case study

A female patient in the Sydney area, Australia, came in for a check-up because of walking problems. Her ABI was measured by Tricia Callow, a chronic disease management nurse.

As stated in the measurement report, the systolic blood pressure in the patient’s both legs was lower than in her arm, especially in her left leg (95 mmHg only). The ABI values were in 0.9 in her right leg and 0.6 in her left leg. An ABI of 0.9 is considered borderline and an ABI between 0.4 and 0.7 shows moderate PAD.

Due to the results, the patient was referred for a Doppler probe examination for determining the blood flow in the arteries. In the left leg, there was significant atherosclerotic change with occlusion in two arteries: the femoral and the anterior tibial.

Upon this discovery, the patient underwent surgical revascularization to restore the blood flow through the blocked arteries in her left leg. The patient later visited nurse Callow once again, thanking her for the ABI exam, which led to timely PAD treatment and ultimately prevented amputation.