Dear Colleagues,

At present, cardiovascular disease still takes the highest death toll worldwide. Peripheral artery disease (PAD) patients suffer from a particularly poor prognosis. With this knowledge, efforts to reduce ischemic events and improve cardiovascular outcomes have been the driving force behind cardiovascular research in recent decades. 

One central strategy to improve cardiovascular outcomes is lipid lowering. For the time being, the most important drugs to reduce cholesterol still are statins. They are widely known to be beneficial in both primary and secondary prevention of major cardiovascular events (MACE) and there is convincing evidence that they consistently reduce total and cardiovascular mortality. Next to statins, PCSK-9 inhibitors have already shown their benefit in PAD. Alternatively, non-statin lipid-lowering therapy, i.e ezetimibe or bempedoic acid has yet to prove its value beyond combination.

Next, improvement of diabetic state and prevention of aggravation and associated complications, i.e., diabetic foot, are also of decisive importance. The recent progress in anti-diabetic medication, i.e., SGLT2-inhibitors and GLP-1 receptor antagonists, and their beneficial effects, has yet not been studied regarding their influence on the peripheral vasculature.

Another important field in the treatment of peripheral arterial disease is by influencing platelet aggregation and coagulation. This remains of great importance especially before, during and after vascular intervention or surgery.

Finally, anticoagulation management especially in secondary prophylaxis of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism is a challenging task, especially in situations with the rare thrombophilic predisposition. When and what to test for in this regard, as well as how to contextualize the results is of crucial importance and needs the input of specialists in the field.

This Special Issue of the Journal of Clinical Medicine will cover the following important aspects for medical treatment of peripheral artery disease:

1. Lipid-lowering therapy

• Standard or high-intensity statin treatment and/or combination and its effects on peripheral artery disease
• Non-statin lipid-lowering therapy (PCSK-9 inhibitors, ezetimibe, bempedoic acid) and its effects on peripheral artery disease
• Statin adherence and intolerance in peripheral artery disease
• Age and adherence to lipid-lowering therapy (review)

2. Antidiabetic medication

• Old age (octogenarians): diabetic treatment for prevention of diabetic complications
• SGLT2 inhibitors and GLP-1 receptor antagonists in the prevention of vascular disease

3. Platelet inhibition and anticoagulation

• Management of anticoagulation before, during and after peripheral intervention or surgery, i.e., aspirin and/or clopidogrel with or without anticoagulation
• Gender and antithrombotics in arterial and venous disease

Dr. Jörn F Dopheide
Prof. Dr. Heinz Drexel
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Clinical Medicine is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• peripheral artery disease
• deep venous thrombosis
• statins
• PCSK-9 inhibitors
• lipid lowering therapy
• diabetes mellitus
• anti-diabetic medication
• platelet aggregation
• anticoagulation

• Prognostic role of polyvascular involvement in patients with symptomatic peripheral artery disease
• False versus true statin intolerance in patients with peripheral artery disease