Concomitant neurological and orthopaedic diseases in the presence of peripheral arterial disease: a prospective study.

Background: The symptoms of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) can be masked by neurological or orthopaedic diseases with identical symptoms, which may result in faulty therapy decisions, if the diagnosis is solely based on the reported complaints and angiographic or duplex ultrasonographic findings. A prospective study was therefore performed to find out how often established PAD is accompanied by neurological or orthopaedic pictures that can blend into the PAD symptoms.

Patients And Methods: The examination was performed in 235 patients with PAD of Fontaine's stages II to IV, 125 were women and 110 men; the mean age was 71 years (41 to 95 years). They were systematically examined for angiologic, neurological and orthopaedic diseases.

Results: 44% of the patients enrolled in the study suffered from a neurological disease, 45% from an orthopaedic disease and 24.7% from both a neurological and an orthopaedic disease. The frequency of concomitant diseases depended on the stage of PAD. In Fontaine's stage II, alterations due to arthrosis or arthritis were found in 12% of the patients, peripheral neuropathies in 14%, radiculoneuropathies in 16% and malpositions of the foot in 16%. In Fontaine's stage III, arthrosis and arthritis were predominant at a percentage of 38.5%; peripheral neuropathies were diagnosed in 15.4% of the patients. Patients with Fontaine's stage IV most often showed peripheral polyneuropathies at 42.1% and malpositions of the foot at 28.4%.

Conclusions: Because of the frequency of neurological and orthopaedic pictures with identical symptoms, a differential diagnosis before the initiation of a PAD therapy is imperative.