Area-pressure relationship of lower limb main veins in man.
BACKGROUND
The mechanical properties of human veins remain incompletely known. However they play an important part in number of physiological and pathological situations, as hemodynamic adjustment to orthostasis, deep venous thrombosis (DVP) and chronic venous insufficiency (CVI). The aim of the study was to describe the pressure/volume (area) relationship of some important conduit veins of the human's lower limb.


METHODS
We investigated the area/pressure relationship of thefemoral vein (FV) at mid thigh, the great saphenous vein (GSV) at lower third of the leg, and a deep leg vein (DLV), either the peroneal or posterior tibial vein, in fifteen healthy young men. The cross section areas were measured with B-mode ultrasound while various positive and negative venous pressures were generated by body's tilting.


RESULTS
Over the range of pressures investigated, the area/pressure relationship was roughly linear, the classical sigmoid relation did not emerge from our data. The relative compliance of FV, GSV and DLV was 0.0312, 0.0118, and 0.0147 mmHg(-1), respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
The relative compliance of FV is more than two times higher than the relative compliance of both the DLV and the GSV.
Chauveau
M
M
Department of Physiology, Cochin Hospital, Paris, France.
Bassez
S
S
Tra
S
S
Scherrer
B
B
D000328:Adult; D003187:Compliance; D005268:Femoral Vein / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D035002:Lower Extremity / Q000098:blood supply*; D008297:Male; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012501:Saphenous Vein / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology*; D018667:Tilt-Table Test; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000379:methods; D014690:Venous Pressure