Native New Yorker, John Astorina and his wife Fran of 41 years, love exploring the “Big Apple” on foot, soaking up all of its cultural and architectural richness. But, a diabetic for 31 years, john recently began having problems with blood flow in his legs. “I would be required to stop after walking just a couple of city blocks because the pain in either my right leg or left leg became excruciating and I would have to stop until the blood flowed down again and permitted me to walk, so that is probably when the leg pain became very severe,” says John Astorina.

John was suffering from diabetic ulcers on his feet. His condition got progressively worse…he developed peripheral artery disease and faced the possibility of amputation. “I was frightened, my wife was very frightened, my children I had adult children were being very supportive but I know they were frightened as well, we are a close family, but, I was determined to do whatever medically was necessary to escape amputation,” says John.

Doctors determined that instead of a leg bypass to improve blood flow to john’s leg, he was a perfect candidate for the new minimally invasive SilverHawk procedure. “Basically we’re using a device to clean out the artery, putting a needle in the artery and using the device to actually remove the plaque from within, removing the device and not leaving anything behind, there is no stent, there is no metal or any kind of material left behind, what you are doing is removing the plaque in its entirety and restoring flow,” explains Dr. Thomas R. Bernik of St. Vincent’s Hospital.
Peripheral artery disease (P.A.D.) is a condition in which the arteries in the limbs become narrow from plaque, a buildup of cholesterol, that may restrict the flow of blood. But, if the leg arteries are blocked, other arteries can be blocked as well, so patients with P.A.D. are at increased risk for heart attack and stroke.
According to medical experts, while stents and bypass surgery have worked well in the heart, these procedures are less effective in the peripheral arteries. Stents can fracture from the pressure of standing and walking…and with balloon angioplasties, 33% of patients will experience a renarrowing of the artery. Studies have shown that with SilverHawk, renarrowing rates were approximately 12% after 6 months.
“The breakthrough is that removing the actual plaque and restoring blood flow is, allows the patient to basically resume normal activity within the next day, the outcomes that have been seen over the course of a year or two years now are very good, they are more than compatible with stenting and you have the benefits, the added benefits of a shorter hospital stay, limb salvage meaning that your amputation rates have decreased dramatically,” says Dr. Bernik.
The procedure, which takes around an hour, is done under local anesthesia…a small incision is made in the groin, and specialized catheters are passed down the affected artery and cleaned out. While bypass surgery routes around lesions and stents and angioplasty compress plaque, the SilverHawk works like a roto-rooter, rotating within the artery chopping through the plaque and removing it.
John says thanks to the SilverHawk procedure he and his wife Fran are enjoying life again, sharing the gift of four grandchildren and they’ve resumed pounding the New York City pavement. “We walk with a much better gait, with much more ease than we did in the past, my wife and I enjoy a lot of things, we take advantage of the cultural activities in NYC, we have a subscription to Carnegie Hall, we have a subscription to the NYC opera, we take advantage of the theatre in New York,” says John.

Symptoms of peripheral artery disease include muscle pain or cramping in the legs and arms, usually triggered by a certain amount of activity, such as walking. Calf pain is very common as well as leg numbness or weakness, cold legs or feet, sores on your toes, feet or legs that won’t heal and a change in the color of your legs.

Smoking, being older than age 50, being overweight, having diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol or family history of it…are all risk factors.

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