Medical Treatment of Peripheral Arterial Disease: Current Concepts and Future Options

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) has an increasing prevalence and incidence; 30% of the patients with intermittent claudication die within 5 years. Therapeutic goals are therefore a reduction of the high cardiovascular mortality and improvement of the ischaemic symptoms. The review describes the medical treatment options for the different stages of PAD and focuses on new treatment strategies, like the local application of growth factors or autologous stem cells.