Oscillometric measurement of ankle-brachial index in patients with suspected peripheral disease: comparison with Doppler method.
OBJECTIVE
Purpose was to validate accuracy and reliability of automated oscillometric ankle-brachial (ABI) measurement prospectively against the current gold standard of Doppler-assisted ABI determination.


METHODS
Oscillometric ABI was measured in 50 consecutive patients with peripheral arterial disease (n = 100 limbs, mean age 65 +/- 6 years, 31 men, 19 diabetics) after both high and low ABI had been determined conventionally by Doppler under standardised conditions. Correlation was assessed by linear regression and Pearson product moment correlation. Degree of inter-modality agreement was quantified by use of Bland and Altman method.


RESULTS
Oscillometry was performed significantly faster than Doppler-assisted ABI (3.9 +/- 1.3 vs 11.4 +/- 3.8 minutes, P <0.001). Mean readings were 0.62 +/- 0.25, 0.70 +/- 0.22 and 0.63 +/- 0.39 for low, high and oscillometric ABI, respectively. Correlation between oscillometry and Doppler ABI was good overall (r = 0.76 for both low and high ABI) and excellent in oligo-symptomatic, non-diabetic patients (r = 0.81; 0.07 +/- 0.23); it was, however, limited in diabetic patients and in patients with critical limb ischaemia. In general, oscillometric ABI readings were slightly higher (+0.06), but linear regression analysis showed that correlation was sustained over the whole range of measurements.


CONCLUSIONS
Results of automated oscillometric ABI determination correlated well with Doppler-assisted measurements and could be obtained in shorter time. Agreement was particularly high in oligo-symptomatic non-diabetic patients.
Diehm
N
N
Swiss Cardiovascular Center, Division of Clinical and Interventional Angiology, University Hospital Insel, Bern, Switzerland.
Dick
F
F
Czuprin
C
C
Lawall
H
H
Baumgartner
I
I
Diehm
C
C
D000368:Aged; D055109:Ankle Brachial Index / Q000379:methods*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003925:Diabetic Angiopathies / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009991:Oscillometry; D016491:Peripheral Vascular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D018608:Ultrasonography, Doppler