An objective assessment of intermittent claudication by near-infrared spectroscopy.
Changes in tissue oxygenation in the calf muscle were measured by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) in 62 patients who complained of intermittent claudication in the calf during a treadmill test. Three distinctive patterns of oxygenated and deoxygenated haemoglobin were observed. None of the type 0 cases were severe (i.e., unable to walk for more than 5 minutes), while 37 and 82% of the type 1 and type 2 cases were severe, respectively. The mean maximum walking distance of type 1 was significantly longer than that of type 2 (179 +/- 70 m and 109 +/- 46 m, respectively; p < 0.005), while the mean ankle-brachial pressure index at rest of type 1 was not significantly different from that of type 2 (0.68 +/- 0.19 and 0.61 +/- 0.23, respectively). Our results indicate that NIRS can be used to accurately assess the severity of intermittent claudication.
Komiyama
T
T
First Department of Surgery, University of Tokyo, Japan.
Shigematsu
H
H
Yasuhara
H
H
Muto
T
T
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D007383:Intermittent Claudication / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*; D007866:Leg / Q000098:blood supply; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009132:Muscles / Q000098:blood supply; D010108:Oxyhemoglobins / Q000032:analysis; D013055:Spectrophotometry, Infrared
D006454:Hemoglobins; D010108:Oxyhemoglobins