A Multidisciplinary Approach in Selecting Treatment Strategies in Patients with Aortic and Peripheral Artery Diseases

Abstract

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the first leading cause of death worldwide, whereas ischemic stroke due to atherosclerosis of coronary and carotid arteries presents epidemiologically in a different ways among sexes. It ranks the second and the third leading cause of death among women and men globally. Noncoronary atherosclerosis also affects other arterial beds throughout the body, including the aorta and peripheral arteries. Atherosclerosis is a systemic disease affecting all arterial beds, but the progression of atherosclerosis in some arterial beds is triggered by the principal symptoms manifested in one bed and the subclinical course of atherosclerosis in others. There is a high probability of the presence of the so-called polyvascular disease defined as the simultaneous presence of clinically relevant atherosclerotic lesions in at least two arterial beds. It has been shown that patients with cerebral ischemic attacks have a 10-fold higher risk of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) or cardiac death within five years compared to a healthy population. About 35–50% of patients who have undergone carotid endarterectomy (CEA) have severe coronary artery lesions requiring surgical treatment.