The decreased blood flow does not supply enough oxygen to the leg muscles during exercise. Your doctor may advise an exercise program. Your doctor may recommend a surgical procedure to bypass the blocked segment of the artery. Another procedure is called a percutaneous transluminal angioplasty. It is important that you discuss with your doctor whether you have heart failure.
Platelets are particles that circulate in the blood and play a role in clotting.
Improvement in symptoms may not occur immediately. Although drugs similar to Pletal have increased the risk of death in patients with congestive heart failure, they have not been studied in people without heart failure. It is not known if drugs similar to Pletal would increase the risk of death in patients without congestive heart failure. Pletal was studied in about 1,374 patients with claudication who had not had a recent heart attack or stroke or serious chest pain. These studies were too small to be sure there is not some increased risk of death with longer use or in patients who are sicker than people in the clinical studies.