CityView Magazine

36 Februar y 2023 FEATURE Freedom from pain Stents restore blood flow to ease the ache caused by peripheral vascular disease BY JAMI MCL AUGHLIN | CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS HEALTH Cape Fear Valley Health helped Ruth Pacheco Rojas get back on her feet after a peripheral vascular disease diagnosis. W hen Ruth Pacheco Rojas started having leg pain when she walked, she sought help. "Two years ago, I started running out of breath when I walked. en I couldn't walk much because not only did I need air, but it hurt," says Rojas, 68. She was diagnosed with peripheral vascular disease and referred to a hospital in Raleigh. But her doctor there could not help, so she was referred back to Fayetteville. at's when she met Dr. Amol Bahekar. Bahekar has practiced interventional cardiology at Cape Fear Valley Health for 10 years. He also is the program director for cardiovascular fellowship at Campbell University. He knew immediately what Rojas needed and put two stents in her legs in mid- January. at helped relieve Rojas' pain and restore the blood flow in her legs. "I was able to open the blood vessels in her legs without evasive vascular surgery. She had a 100% blockage, but we were able to take care of her. And if this wasn't taken care of, she would have lost her leg," says Bahekar. He says peripheral vascular disease is most oen a complication of uncontrolled diabetes, hypertension and smoking, which constricts blood vessels in the heart and legs. "If you don't get those issues under control early on, it will develop and it's a serious disease," Bahekar says. Rojas is not diabetic, and she quit smoking seven years ago. She does have high blood pressure and she was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease before doctors discovered the blockage in her arteries. She quit smoking when her doctor to her that if she continued, she was at risk of having a heart attack. "I started cutting down until I finally said, 'No more,'" says Rojas. But some of the damage had been done, and Rojas started feeling pain in her legs. "It started out with feeling numb, and my feet were always cold. en it started getting painful to walk. Now I know there was no blood running through my legs. I had a full blockage," Rojas says. "It was my heart too. When I went to sleep, I felt like my heart was beating too fast. It felt like I was constantly scared, so I would pray nothing would happen." Numbness is one of the first warning signs of peripheral vascular disease. "In the early stages, a person might feel numbness and some pain, but if le undiagnosed or untreated, it can develop into gangrene or result in an amputation or loss of legs," Bahekar says. Bahekar says studies have shown that patients who undergo an amputation have a life expectancy of five years or less. It can also lead to heart disease. "Our goal in our practice is to screen and catch the signs early on so we can prevent this from happening and try to prevent amputations and bad outcomes," Bahekar says.

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