Millions of people age 50 and older suffer unnecessarily from leg pain due to clogged arteries, or peripheral vascular disease. Glens Falls Hospital is taking part in a nationwide effort to help local people diagnose and overcome this very treatable ailment.

On Saturday, September 25, the Hospital will join with the Society of Cardiovascular & Interventional Radiologists to host a free “Legs for Life” peripheral vascular disease (PVD) screening from 8 a.m-1 p.m. in the Pruyn Pavilion. A second screening will be held the following day at the Saratoga Imaging Center, 8 Circular Street, in Saratoga Springs (across from the Holiday Inn), from noon to 4 p.m. The 15-minute screening consists of a risk-assessment interview designed to determine if an individual currently has, or is likely to develop PVD. Anyone wishing to schedule an appointment is asked to call 761-2362 weekdays from 7:30 a.m.-4 p.m.

“It’s estimated that 60 percent of the people suffering from this disease do not seek treatment. They simply chalk it up to old age,” says Richard Dimick, M.D., an interventional radiologist on the medical staff of Glens Falls Hospital. “But PVD can have serious health consequences. Legs for Life is a nationwide effort to help educate people about the risks.”

PVD occurs when cholesterol and/or scar tissue builds up inside an artery - most often in the leg - slowing or stopping the flow of blood. The primary symptom of PVD is leg pain, especially during exercise. Left untreated, PVD can result in pain during rest, as well as the development of ulcers on the feet and legs. In advanced cases, limb amputation can be a possibility.

Treatment for PVD can vary depending on a variety of factors. Among the more common therapies is interventional radiology, a medical specialty in which imaging technologies are used to guide catheters and other tiny instruments into arteries and other parts of the body to treat conditions that once required surgery. Glens Falls Hospital has two interventional radiologists on its medical staff, Dr. Dimick and Marc Meacham, M.D. In 1996, the Hospital invested $1.2 million to renovate and upgrade its Interventional Radiology Lab.