Exercise Training Versus Best Medical Treatment Only in Peripheral Artery Disease

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) affects 7 - 12% of the population aged over 50 years. Over an age of 60 years up to 20% are suffering from PAD in Western societies. Both, percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) and surgical repair (bypass graft, thrombectomy) are well established procedures to improve peripheral arterial perfusion. However, long-term results remain disappointing: Low patency-rates are associated with clinical deterioration. Moreover, clinical outcome is often limited by early major cardiovascular adverse events (myocardial infarction, stroke).

Therefore, medical therapy plays a major role in the management of PAD patients: Antihypertensive medication, statins as well as an adequate diabetes therapy are important cornerstones in the therapeutical management of PAD. Prior studies have shown that regular supervised exercise training can improve patients´walking impairment.

We hypothesize that regular supervised exercise training significantly improves Quality of Life and decreases the occurence of future major cardiovascular adverse events. We further aim to investigate the effect of exercise training on peripheral microcirculation and endothelial progenitor cells.