Panagiotis Koutakis, Sara A Myers, Kim Cluff, Duy M Ha, Gleb Haynatzki, Rodney D McComb, Koji Uchida, Dimitrios Miserlis, Evlampia Papoutsi, Jason M Johanning, George P Casale, Iraklis I Pipinos
BACKGROUND: Peripheral artery disease (PAD), which affects an estimated 27 million people in Europe and North America, is caused by atherosclerotic plaques that limit blood flow to the legs. Chronic, repeated ischemia in the lower leg muscles of PAD patients is associated with loss of normal myofiber morphology and myofiber degradation. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that myofiber morphometrics of PAD calf muscle are significantly different from normal calf muscle and correlate with reduced calf muscle strength and walking performance...
June 1, 2015: Journal of Surgical Research