Usefulness of Blood Flow Measurement Device Using Bioelectrical Impedance Plethysmography in Lower-Extremity Artery Disease.

Background: Bioelectrical impedance plethysmography (IPG) for measuring human body fraction and disease has been progressing in the past half-century, and few studies have reported lower-extremity arterial disease (LEAD) in recent years.

Methods and results: The present study enrolled patients who underwent examinations for LEAD. IPG with venous occlusion was performed, and flow volumes were compared with those measured using Doppler duplex ultrasonography, the ankle-brachial index (ABI), and assessments of arterial stenosis and collaterals using computed tomography and/or magnetic resonance angiographies. Fifty patients suspected of LEAD were enrolled; 15 had no arterial stenosis and 35 had LEAD. Arterial blood flow volume (BFV) was assessed. Although the area under the curve for IPG-BFV and Doppler-BFV in the popliteal artery with arterial stenosis were similar, IPG-BFV exhibited better diagnostic accuracy than Doppler-BFV (accuracy 0.765 and 0.694, respectively; McNemar's test P<0.01). In the analysis of covariance with IPG-BFV adjustment, Doppler-BFV was significantly lower in patients with LEAD (ABI<0.9), and morphological arterial stenosis, particularly in those with collaterals than in those without (F-test P<0.05, respectively).

Conclusions: IPG-BFV could have a better ability to discern the presence of arterial stenosis compared with Doppler-BFV and might not be confounded by the presence of collateral circulation when assessing blood flow in the entire lower extremity, which could be an advantage of IPG-BFV.