Buerger's Disease: Causes, symptoms, treatment of rare disease of the arteries and veins that affects your arms and legs
Buerger’s disease is also called Thromboangiitis Obliterans and is a rare disease in which the blood vessels of the hands and feet get inflamed or swollen. Doctors reveal all you need to know about its causes, symptoms, treatment or advanced treatment options
Earlier people used to get cancer from consumption of tobacco but now there is a rare disease identified due to excessive consumption of tobacco - Buerger's Disease. Smokers in India consumed an average of 8.2 cigarettes per day, the number of cigarettes smoked annually has grown to more than 6 trillion and there are approximately 120 million smokers in India while according to the World Health Organization (WHO), India is home to 12% of the world's smokers.
More than 1 million die each year due to tobacco in India and according to a 2002 WHO estimate, 25% of adult males in India smoke. There are almost 267 million tobacco users in India where among adults (age 15+), 28.6% of the population currently uses tobacco products (men 42.4%; women 14.2%) and among youth (ages 13–15), 8.5% currently use some form of tobacco (boys 9.6%; girls 7.4%).
What is Buerger's Disease?
In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Ruchit Shah, Interventional Cardiologist at Mumbai's Masina Hospital, informed, “Buerger’s disease is also called Thromboangiitis Obliterans. It is a disease in which the blood vessels of the hands and feet, they get inflamed, swollen and subsequently blocked, leading to stoppage of blood supply at the ends of the fingers or the toes. It may initially manifest as tingling numbness followed by pale discoloration of the fingers followed by a complete loss of blood supply, which may lead to an inactive finger and finally may lead to gangrene formation.”
She added, “It has been observed that all the patients who are having this Buerger’s disease are smokers or using tobacco in any form. The most important treatment for Buerger’s disease is quit smoking and start using medicines, which dilate the blood vessels as well as cause blood thinning. In extreme cases if there is gangrene, it may require amputation of the limb or the finger or toe.”
Causes:
According to Dr Chandrashekhar Kulkarni, Consultant, Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery [CVTS] at Global Hospital in Mumbai's Parel, heavy smokers are at the highest risk of developing Buerger disease. He said, “It's also been found in cigar smokers, marijuana users and people who use smokeless tobacco like chewing tobacco and snuff. It is a rare disorder that poses less of a risk in countries where tobacco use has declined.”
Signs and symptoms:
Dr Chandrashekhar Kulkarni highlighted that Buerger disease symptoms include -
1. Walking causes pain, soreness or a burning sensation in your lower legs or feet
2. Soreness or pain in your hands or forearms
3. Clots in the blood
4. Ulcers on your fingers and toes
5. Change in the colour of the skin on the fingers and toes to pale, reddish and occasionally bluish
Treatment:
“The treatment you receive will be determined by your symptoms, age and overall health. It will also depend on the severity of the condition. Buerger disease has no known cure. Treatment may be determined by the extent of your disease's progression. It will try to increase blood flow to the affected area or reduce pain,” said Dr Chandrashekhar Kulkarni.
He pointed out that the options include:
1. Putting an end to all forms of tobacco use, which include electronic cigarettes.
2. Operation to carry blood to the affected tissues
3. Other surgeries to cut nerves to the tissue to relieve pain or cure damaged extremities
4. Some medications help to relax blood vessels and increase blood flow to tissues.
He also shared some advanced treatment options that include:
1. Pain is a major problem for many people and in some it even affects sleep. In such patients radio-frequency ablation of the pain pathway can lead to symptomatic relief of pain.
2. Judicious use of laser to heal the ulcers.
3. In most cases amputation of the fingers/toes/limb is the only option to prevent pain and subsequent gangrene.