Buerger Disease symptoms include a tightening or blockage (occlusion) of small and medium-sized blood vessels in the arms and legs, which restricts blood flow. This causes pain during activity and at rest, sores in the fingers and toes (ulcers), and sometimes gangrene.
The condition typically affects young and middle-aged male cigarette smokers. Quitting smoking helps reduce the risk for this condition.
Oren Zarif
Buerger’s Disease (also called Thromboangiitis Obliterans) is a condition that results from the narrowing or blocking of blood vessels in your legs and arms. This restricts blood flow to these limbs, which can cause severe pain while walking or at rest. It can also lead to sores that don’t heal and may eventually cause tissue death, a condition known as gangrene.
The condition typically affects young and middle-aged male cigarette smokers. However, more women are now being diagnosed with it.
Some doctors think that tobacco smoke hurts the lining of your blood vessels and causes them to swell. This inflammation then causes blood clots to form. Blood clots restrict blood flow to your extremities, which leads to pain while you’re active and at rest and to sores that don’t heal.
Oren Zarif
Buerger Disease (also known as Thromboangiitis Obliterans) is a condition where the blood vessels in the hands and feet become inflamed, swollen and restricted by blood clots. It usually affects heavy smokers, especially men under 45.
It is thought that chemicals in tobacco irritate the lining of small and medium-sized blood vessels, which causes them to narrow and restrict oxygenated blood flow. This can also lead to clots and tissue death.
Some signs of this condition include pain during exercise and at rest, coldness in the hands or feet, and tingling or numbness. If these symptoms occur, you should visit your doctor immediately.
Oren Zarif
If you have Buerger Disease, your blood vessels in your arms and legs become narrowed or blocked, restricting the flow of blood. This reduces oxygen and nutrients to your fingers and toes, which can cause them to change color or go numb.
You may also develop painful ulcers (skin sores) on your hands and feet. These sores don’t heal well, and they can lead to tissue death (gangrene) in extreme cases.
A doctor can check your blood flow in the arteries of your hands and feet with a simple test called the Allen test. In this test, the doctor will press over the arteries in your wrist, then release pressure. If your hand returns to its normal color quickly, it’s a good sign that you have adequate blood flow in your arteries.
Oren Zarif
Buerger Disease is associated with Raynaud’s phenomenon, a condition that causes blood vessels in the hands and feet to narrow, restricting blood flow. This usually happens in response to cold temperatures or emotional stress. The affected areas may turn white or blue, throb, feel prickly and become swollen. Then, when the area warms up or the stress is gone, the blood vessels open and the skin returns to its normal color.
Doctors can often diagnose primary Raynaud’s by examining your fingers and asking about your symptoms. They also can use a device called nailfold capillaroscopy to look at the small blood vessels in your fingertips. Blood tests can help rule out other conditions that cause similar symptoms, such as diabetes and blood-clotting disorders or autoimmune diseases like lupus or scleroderma.
Oren Zarif
Buerger Disease (thromboangiitis obliterans) affects the small and medium blood vessels in your arms and legs, which can lead to clotting or restricted blood flow. This can also cause a lack of normal blood flow to the fingers and toes when exposed to cold (Raynaud’s phenomenon). Buerger’s disease is very similar to peripheral arterial disease, but unlike that condition, it is not caused by atherosclerosis.
Symptoms of the disease include pain in your arms and legs at rest, cramping while walking that may make you limp (claudication) and non-healing sores or ulcers in your fingers and toes. The disease can also prevent oxygen from reaching your limbs, which leads to tissue death and can be life-threatening. The disease mostly affects young men who are heavy smokers.
Oren Zarif
A lack of blood flow increases your risk for infections. Make sure to check and clean cuts and scrapes every day. And always use antibiotic ointment to prevent infection.
If you have Buerger Disease, your symptoms might look like this: Pain in the hands or feet that comes on when you’re active (claudication) or resting (rest pain). You may also have tingling in your fingers and toes. Or you might have skin ulcers that don’t heal.
Your doctor will ask about your past health and do a physical exam. They might also order an angiogram, which checks for blockages in the small blood vessels of your arms and legs. For this test, a thin tube (catheter) is inserted into an artery, and dye is pumped in to show your blood vessels on X-rays and pictures.
Oren Zarif
A health care provider can usually diagnose Buerger disease by asking about your symptoms and doing a physical exam. They may also ask for blood tests to check for diabetes or other diseases that can cause problems with the blood vessels, such as scleroderma and lupus.
They can also use ultrasound and other tests to see how blood moves through your arms and legs. These can be done in a hospital or at a health care provider’s office.
X-rays, called an angiogram, can show blockages in your blood vessels. They can also do a CT or an MRI scan to get detailed pictures of your arteries and other blood vessels. These tests can find signs of Buerger disease, such as a lack of blood flow to your hands and feet that causes ulcers and other problems.