Don’t ignore that aching leg

Autorickshaw driver Rajendra Pokharkar, 38, has not been able to ply his vehicle for the last four months due to an intermittently occurring shooting pain in his left leg. The ‘innocuous’ pain – as Pokharkar mistook it to be – used to subside after he popped a painkiller. After sitting idle for four months due to this pain, Pokharkar visited JJ Hospital in Byculla where he underwent an angiography.

“What I was brushing aside as innocuous pain, turned out to be a major block in the artery stemming from my heart supplying blood to the legs,” said Pokharkar. “Doctors said any delay and the block could have developed gangrene, resulting in amputating of my leg.”

Today, on World Heart Day, Pokharkar bears testimony that such ‘innocuous’ pain can’t be ignored.

Experts say there is extreme lack of awareness that pain in body parts, seemingly not connected to the heart, can be due to blockage in some artery from the heart. Medically, such blockages are called peripheral vascular disease. This ‘seemingly unrelated’ part could be the limbs, stomach or kidneys.

According to a study undertaken by the Registrar General of India in 2009, an estimated 20 lakh patients in India die every year due to cardiovascular diseases. Of these, around 8 lakh (that’s a chunky 40 per cent) suffer peripheral arterial blockages.

“Of the total 8 lakh patients, about 20%  suffer arterial blockages in limbs, loss of vision in eyes or brain strokes. Another 20% suffer from blockages in arteries supplying blood to kidneys, leading to renal failure and gangrene of intestine,” says Dr Jamshed Dalal, director, cardiac sciences at Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani hospital, Andheri. “So, aches in certain body parts can’t be ignored.”

Dr Narendra Bansal, head of cardiology at JJ Hospital, says pain due to blockage of an artery in the limbs is distinct. “It occurs in the legs when one walks a few metres. If the person sits or rests, the pain vanishes only to recur when s/he resumes walking,” says Dr Bansal. “Muscular ache or spasm not related to arterial blockage occurs continuously over a few days before subsiding permanently with medication. Pain due to blockage of arteries supplying blood to intestines occurs about an hour after meals. If untreated, one can bleed to death.”

By far, such arterial blockage in limbs is ignored as the pain is restricted to just a part of the body, say medical experts. Dr Ajit Desai, interventional cardiologist at Jaslok hospital, says Indians tend to ignore pain until it becomes unbearable.