1 From the Department of Clinical Chemistry, Frederiksberg Hospital, and the Department of Clinical Physiology, Bispebjerg Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Pathophysiological considerations predict that exercise blood flows at comparable work loads must always be reduced in claudicants in comparison to normal subjects. The present study verified that the exercise blood flow determined by 133xenon clearance measurements in the gastrocnemius muscle in claudicants and in a control group differed widely. As expected, a statistically significant correlation was found between the first flow by plethysmography and the maximal exercise blood flow determined by the 133xenon clearance technique in the patients and for the whole material (but not for the control group alone). The exercise blood flow determined by 133 xenon clearance in the claudicants was statistically significantly correlated to the walking distance, measured on a treadmill, while the postexercise blood flow as measured by plethysmography was not. This finding establishes the concept, that the 133xenon clearance technique can be applied in quantitating the degree of arterial insufficiency.
© 1968 American Heart Association, Inc.
Muscle Blood Flow During Exercise in Intermittent Claudication
Validation of the 133Xenon Clearance Technique: Clinical Use by Comparison to Plethysmography and Walking Distance
Key Words: One leg calf ergograph • Mercury in rubber strain gauge • 133Xenon clearance • Treadmill walking • Venous occlusion plethysmography • Arterial insufficiency