Peripheral Arterial Disease

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a major public health issue mainly due to atherosclerosis characterized by stenosis or occlusion of lower limbs arteries leading to decreased muscle perfusion. Symptomatic PAD patients suffer symptoms of intermittent claudication (IC), defined as pain occurring in limb muscles during effort, due to exercise-induced ischemia. Patients with IC have diminished overall functional status (walking capacity and quality of life impairment) and increased cardiovascular risk.

Supervised exercise training is an effective primary nonpharmacologic treatment for IC recommended by national and international guidelines. Despite general agreement for effectiveness of exercise in PAD and IC management, there is no clear consensus on the modalities of exercises (e.g. type, duration, frequency) which provide the best clinical benefits. Additionally, the precise mechanisms responsible for the positive effects of exercise are still unknown.

Based on these considerations, our current research goals are to investigate optimal exercise strategies for PAD management and assess underlying biological mechanisms. Our findings may have potential for clinical application.

Our research team publications are presented in full in UniSciences, the University of Lausanne Research Database.