In Office Testing

ABI- The ABI or Ankle Brachial Index is a test used to check for the presence of blockages in the peripheral arteries and provide verification that one has Peripheral Arterial Disease or PAD. The test compares blood pressures at your ankle. as well as your calf and thighs, with the blood pressure in your arm. The ABI is calculated by dividing the systolic blood pressure at the ankle by the systolic blood pressure in the arm. 

This ultrasound tells us how the blood is flowing down into your legs.  Atherosclerotic plaque can build up in your arteries restricting blood flow down to your feet causing pain after walking short distances. 

This ultrasound helps us to rule out a deep vein thrombosis or incompetent veins. The veins in your legs have valves that help to push the blood back up to your heart; when these valves stop working blood can pool causing swelling and pain.  

This ultrasound tells us if your aorta is becoming enlarged by measuring the abdominal aorta and the iliac arteries. An abdominal aorta over 3cm in diameter is considered aneurysmal. AAAs often have no symptoms; mortality rate is high if they rupture. 

This ultrasound tells us how the blood flow is getting to your brain.  We look at the common carotid, external carotid, internal carotid, vertebral and subclavian arteries to see if there is any plaque that would be obstructing blood flow. 

This ultrasound tells us how the blood flow is getting to your intestines. We look at the celiac trunk, superior mesenteric, inferior mesenteric arteries and abdominal aorta. 

This ultrasound tells us how the blood flow is getting to your kidneys.  We look at the renal arteries, the flow within the kidney and the abdominal aorta. 

This ultrasound looks at the superficial veins in your legs and possibly your arms to see if they can be used as an arterial bypass graft.  We make sure all of the veins are fully compressible and free from obstruction and are large enough to use as an arterial bypass graft.  If the vein is large enough then we use a permanent marker to map where the vein and its branches lay.  This makes it easier for the doctor when it comes time for surgery. 

This ultrasound looks at your veins and arteries in the arm to see if and where you could have a permanent fistula placement.  We make sure all your veins are fully compressible and free from obstruction and are large enough to use as an arteriovenous fistula.  We also look at the arteries to makes sure they have normal blood flow and there are no obstructions.  If there are no adequate veins, a synthetic graft can be used to connect an artery and a vein to make a fistula. 

This ultrasound looks at the flow in a graft/stent that has bypassed or stented an occluded or highly obstructed artery. Bypass grafts can be either a vein or a synthetic graft. 

This test is used to evaluate blockages in the arterial system. Typically done while the patient is sedated, an angiogram uses x-ray imaging while injecting a contrast dye (iodine dye) into the arteries to give the surgeons a visual “road map” of your arterial and vein system. This “road map” allows them to see where blockages are located and can be used in live mode during the placement of a balloon or stent for accurate placement. This procedure can take anywhere from 15 min to 2 hours depending on the blockage and whether or not an corrective intervention will be done. 

Intravascular Ultrasound – a diagnostic test that utilizes sound waves placed within your artery via a catheter through the arteries to check for narrowing or hardening of the vessel walls. In many cases the IVUS is used to see whether a stent has been collapsed and can pinpoint where this collapse and or narrowing is taking place. The IVUS is a unique tool for vascular surgeons and gives them a 3-dimensional look into the vein that can sometimes look satisfactory from the two- dimensional x-ray view where It is visible through IVUs.