Tanner Heart & Vascular Specialists will host a peripheral artery disease (PAD) screening clinic on Thursday, Oct. 1 from 4 to 7 p.m. in Classroom 2 of the Health Education and Wellness Learning Center at Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton to help area residents detect PAD in its earliest stages. Paired with a short State of the Heart educational session on PAD presented by Shazib Khawaja, MD, FACC, FSCAI, the PAD screenings by Tanner Heart & Vascular Specialists are $20 each, and prescreening is required. The results of the screening can be sent to each person’s primary care physician. For more information or to register, call 770.812.5885. PAD is often easily detected through a simple, non-invasive screening called an ankle-brachial index, or ABI. With ABI, monitoring devices, such as blood pressure cuffs, are placed on an person’s ankle. This will allow physicians to compare blood pressure from the legs to pressure in other places of the body. Reduced blood pressure in one leg or another may indicate a blocked artery and the presence of PAD. Individuals who have PAD may experience a number of warning signs, including cold legs or feet, hair loss on the legs or feet, sores on the legs or feet that won’t heal, numbness or weakness in the legs or changes in toenails. The most common indication that a patient has PAD is called intermittent claudication. This is often characterized by pain or cramping in the muscles of the arms or legs following physical activity that vanishes after a few moments of rest. Though people usually complain of pain in the calves, intermittent claudication can occur anywhere there’s a blocked artery preventing muscles from getting the blood they need to function properly. A number of factors can increase the risk of developing PAD, including having diabetes, being overweight or obese, having high cholesterol, smoking, being older than 50 or having high blood pressure. PAD is estimated to affect about 20 percent of all people over the age of 70. Treating PAD can be as simple as making lifestyle changes, such as giving up smoking, getting more exercise and adopting a healthier diet. Medications may also be necessary. In some cases, angioplasty is required.