Peripheral Non-atherosclerotic Arterial Disorders: What Radiologists Need to Know

Peripheral non-atherosclerotic arterial disorders (NAADs) are a heterogeneous group of rather uncommon conditions that tend to manifest in subjects without atherosclerosis. Each of these conditions has distinctive pathophysiology; however, there are some common clinical and radiological characteristics and in some cases a common treatment approach that unifies these conditions to a specific group, hence the NAADs. Clinicians and radiologists often fail to recognize NAADs, and there might be a delay in the management of such patients; this may result in seriously adverse outcomes that could otherwise have been avoided or minimized. Knowledge of these conditions and of their radiological appearances is therefore important to help establish a correct diagnosis to allow the prompt initiation of treatment. The purpose of this pictorial review is to present a selection of NAADs cases and to discuss the radiological characteristics and the most common lines of therapeutic approaches.