The incidence of congenitally absent foot pulses.
The pedal pulses of 547 young healthy subjects were examined using digital palpation and a Doppler probe to determine the incidence of congenitally absent foot pulses. The posterior tibial (PT) pulse was absent in only one subject (0.18%), while the dorsalis pedis (DP) pulse was bilaterally absent in nine subjects (1.8%) and unilaterally absent in a further six subjects. The low incidence of congenital absence makes the clinical finding of an absent pedal pulse in later life a more significant marker of peripheral vascular disease than current surgical texts would have us believe.
George Eliot Hospital, Nuneaton.
G S
GS
Robertson
C D
CD
Ristic
B R
BR
Bullen
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001158:Arteries / Q000002:abnormalities; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005528:Foot / Q000098:blood supply*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011674:Pulse / Q000502:physiology*; D014463:Ultrasonography