With the arrival of winter, many people, especially the elderly, experience symptoms such as coldness and pain in their legs and feet. However, due to a lack of basic medical knowledge, many people cannot receive timely or accurate diagnosis and treatment.
Vascular surgery is still relatively new in China, so much so that even many medical professionals have little understanding of vascular diseases, let alone ordinary citizens. In fact, a significant number of patients who experience symptoms such as leg pain, numbness, and coldness are actually suffering from limb artery ischemia. Currently, there are two major misconceptions in dealing with these conditions: First, patients do not know the correct way to seek medical help and, according to traditional thinking, only consider visiting orthopedics or pain clinics. Second, there are numerous so-called "Buerger's disease" specialty clinics run by non-vascular professionals. These medical staff are unable to provide professional and accurate diagnostic and treatment services, resulting in a large number of misdiagnosed and mistreated patients. Many patients thus endure pain for a long time, and some may even end up with amputation.