Abstract
The relative diagnostic value of pulsatile leg blood flow and indices with and without normalization to cardiac stroke volume was determined in 100 subjects (200 legs) with and without lower extremity arterial disease (LEAD) who were stratified on the basis of ankle-brachial pressure index (ABI). Leg blood flow parameters (magnetic resonance flowmetry) included absolute pulsatile flow (Q, mL/min), leg flow per stroke (LSV, mL), and an arterial status index (ASI, mL/min/100 cc). Cardiac stroke volume (CSV) was determined by transthoracic bioimpedance cardiography and was used to obtain the normalized leg/cardiac parameter LSV/CSV. Results show that all tested parameters provide significant statistical separation between LEAD and normal limbs (P < 0.001) but that normalization by CSV was least good and offers no benefit as compared with the leg parameters. Further, based on analysis of receiver operator curves, the ASI parameter, which is derived from leg blood perfusion data, provides the best sensitivity (93.7%-98.1%) and specificity (81.8%-77.7%) of all parameters tested.
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