Subacute and chronic arterial insufficiency is a term used to describe all conditions with narrowed or blocked parts of arteries that supply limbs with blood. Lower limbs are more often affected. The most common symptom is pain in the affected limb. When legs are concerned, pain appears in calves after a few tens of meters of walk (claudication), and disappears at rest. Pain at rest is a sign of a severely advanced disease and arterial narrowing. Besides surgical measures and drugs, HBOT plays an important role in the treatment of arterial insufficiency and in the prevention of spreading of the disease. HBOT induces anti-oxidative defense mechanisms responsible for slowing down the atherosclerotic process and for correction of the existing atherosclerotic changes, increases partial pressure of oxygen in ischemic/hypoxic zones, lessens pain and influences walking distance in the patients with intermittent claudication.
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