Nitric oxide: link between endothelial dysfunction and inflammation in patients with peripheral arterial disease of the lower limbs☆

Abstract

The presence of elevated NO values in PAD, in conjunction with elevated CRP levels, reinforces the theory that atherosclerosis has an inflammatory nature. Its lack of correlation with the clinical severity, also occurring in BAFMD, lends weight to the hypothesis that endothelial dysfunction is an event which takes place in the first stages of the disease.