[The natural history of peripheral arteriopathy].

An the content of atherosclerosis, knowledge of the natural history of peripheral arteriopathy of the lower limbs is of fundamental importance. The authors review the literature involved; in particular they examine the prevalence of peripheral arteriopathy, its incidence and multimodal course in time. It is very interesting to state the cardiovascular morbility and mortality owing to pathology of the coronary district as well as the cerebral one during the course of peripheral arteriopathy. The literature conclusions are not univocal; this matter is principally due to different approach methodologies. As far as arteriopathy of inferior limbs is concerned, the literature shows that we can have a worsening in the local picture for 25% of the cases involved, considering the worst hypothesis; amputation involves at the most 5% of the cases. The real problem in these patients is the presence of arteriosclerotic disease involving other different vascular districts.