Ultrasound recorded axillary artery blood flow during elbow-flexion exercise.
OBJECTIVE
To characterize and evaluate the repeatability of ultrasound recorded blood flow in the axillary artery during one-arm dynamic elbow flexion.


METHODS
11 healthy women (23 +/- 0.9 yr, 168 +/- 1.7 cm, 63 +/- 1.1 kg) performed 90 degrees elbow flexion in supine position. Mean maximum blood velocity was recorded by ultrasound during and after two submaximal loads, representing 16 and 24% of maximal voluntary contraction, and after exhaustion (.VO(2peak))Axillary artery diameter was measured after each workload. Each subject was examined two times 8 wk apart. Oxygen uptake was measured during exercise. Values are mean +/- SE.


RESULTS
Flow was not different in the two tests. Flow was 25% higher immediately after than during exercise at the submaximal workloads. Flow immediately after .VO(2peak) was 1420 +/- 79 mL.min(-1). Axillary artery diameter after .VO(2peak) was 8% larger than at rest. Coefficient of variation ranged from 11 to 23%, coefficient of repeatability ranged from 230 mL.min(-1) at rest to 940 mL.min(-1) after exercise. Coefficient of repeatability for artery diameter was 0.09 cm; coefficient of variation for diameter was about 4% at all recording times.


CONCLUSIONS
The present study showed that ultrasound recordings of blood flow during dynamic elbow-flexion exercise were reproducible. The method can be used to study training-induced flow changes and can detect differences of about 130 mL.min(-1). Artery diameter seemed to increase as flow and load increased.
Amundsen
Brage H
BH
Department of Physiology and Biomedical Engineering, Norwegian Academy of Science and Technology, 7489 Trondheim, Norway. stig.slordahl@medisin.ntnu.no
Wisløff
Ulrik
U
Helgerud
Jan
J
Hoff
Jan
J
Slørdahl
Stig A
SA
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001366:Axillary Artery / Q000502:physiology*; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D004551:Elbow Joint / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005080:Exercise Test; D005260:Female; D005542:Forearm / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006439:Hemodynamics / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D010101:Oxygen Consumption / Q000502:physiology; D011336:Probability; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular / Q000502:physiology*; D012016:Reference Values; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018608:Ultrasonography, Doppler