Gus DelSignore was a man on a mission. His primary care physician had given him five weeks to lower his blood sugar count and cholesterol level through exercise or else begin taking a bevy of medications.

So, the 70-year-old director of the Glens Falls Housing Authority left his home early one morning this past spring intent on beginning a brisk, daily walking program. “I hadn’t gone more than 200 yards when my calf cramped up terribly,” Gus says. “I had to drag myself home.”

Convinced that the problem was just a symptom of too many winter months away from the golf course, Gus tried again the next morning. Again, cramps prevented him from continuing. “I knew something was wrong,” he says, “but I didn’t know what.”

The “something” turned out to be peripheral vascular disease. The main artery in Gus’ left leg was severely blocked, preventing an adequate supply of blood from reaching his calf during exercise.

On June 22, Gus entered Glens Falls Hospital for an interventional radiology procedure. This medical specialty utilizes imaging technologies to guide catheters and other tiny instruments into arteries and other parts of the body to treat conditions that once required surgery.

Richard Dimick, M.D., an interventional radiologist on the Hospital’s medical staff and a partner in Adirondack Radiology Associates, made an incision of approximately three millimeters in Gus’ groin. The doctor then inserted a tiny balloon catheter through the incision and, using ultrasound imaging, guided the catheter to the clogged artery, at which time the balloon was inflated, expanding the artery’s walls.

After just one night in the Hospital, Gus returned home. The next day, his walking program resumed without pain. Today, Gus says, he’s up to four miles a day and his cholesterol and blood sugar levels are under control.

“I’ll tell you, that procedure was easier than having a tooth-filled,” Gus says. “I didn’t feel a thing, and everyone at the Hospital was just great.”