If you have hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis), it affects your quality of life and your life expectancy. Often, you would experience painful cramping in the legs, often caused by exercise (called claudication). Atherosclerosis is related to peripheral arterial disease (PAD), a condition that increases your risk of coronary heart disease and stroke by two to four times. Cross County Cardiology – Mount Sinai uses the latest techniques to diagnose and treat atherosclerosis.

To diagnose PAD, we often perform a Doppler ultrasound. This advanced form of medical imaging adds color-coding to standard ultrasound images. This way, our technician can see blood flowing through the arteries in real time. For example, we might color-code the blood flow to appear blue when flowing normally but red when blood flow is blocked or turbulent. This sort of blockage is a possible sign of arterial blockage.

This safe, painless diagnostic procedure allows us to diagnose PAD early. It also means we do not have to perform an invasive procedure to diagnose the condition. If we do find a problem, we will discuss your treatment options with you.