Peripheral Vascular Disease - Classification

Classification

Peripheral artery occlusive disease is commonly divided in the Fontaine stages, introduced by René Fontaine in 1954 for ischemia:

1. mild pain when walking (claudication), incomplete blood vessel obstruction;
2. severe pain when walking relatively short distances (intermittent claudication), pain triggered by walking "after a distance of >150 m in stage IIa and after <150 m in stage II-b";
3. pain while resting (rest pain), mostly in the feet, increasing when the limb is raised;
4. biological tissue loss (gangrene) and difficulty walking.

A more recent classification by Rutherford consists of three grades and six categories:

1. Mild claudication
2. Moderate claudication
3. Severe claudication
4. Ischemic pain at rest
5. Minor tissue loss
6. Major tissue loss