Your doctor may find signs of narrowed, enlarged or hardened arteries during a physical exam. These include :
- A weak or absent pulse below the narrowed area of your artery
- Decreased blood pressure in an affected limb
- Whooshing sounds (bruits) over your arteries, heard with a stethoscope
- Signs of a pulsating bulge (aneurysm) in your abdomen or behind your knee
- Evidence of poor wound healing in the area where your blood flow is restricted
Depending on the results of the physical exam, your doctor may suggest one or more diagnostic tests, including :
- Blood tests. Lab tests can detect increased levels of cholesterol and blood sugar that may increase the risk of atherosclerosis.
- Doppler ultrasound. Your doctor may use a special ultrasound device (Doppler ultrasound) to measure your blood pressure at various points along your arm or leg. These measurements can help your doctor gauge the degree of any blockages, as well as the speed of blood flow in your arteries.
- Ankle-brachial index. This test can tell if you have atherosclerosis in the arteries in your legs and feet. Your doctor may compare the blood pressure in your ankle with the blood pressure in your arm. This is known as the ankle-brachial index. An abnormal difference may indicate peripheral vascular disease, which is usually caused by atherosclerosis.
- Electrocardiogram (ECG). An electrocardiogram records electrical signals as they travel through your heart. An ECG can often reveal evidence of a previous heart attack or one that's in progress. If your signs and symptoms occur most often during exercise, your doctor may ask you to walk on a treadmill or ride a stationary bike during an ECG.
- Angiogram. To better view blood flow through your heart, brain, arms or legs, your doctor may inject a special dye into your arteries before an X-ray. This is known as an angiogram. The dye outlines narrow spots and blockages on the X-ray images.
- Other imaging tests. Your doctor may use ultrasound, a computerized tomography (CT) scan or a magnetic resonance angiogram (MRA) to study your arteries. These tests can often show hardening and narrowing of large arteries, as well as aneurysms and calcium deposits in the artery walls.
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