Near-infrared Spectroscopy for Evaluation of Peripheral Vascular Disease. A Systematic Review of Literature

ObjectivesTo assess near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) as a method for the diagnosis and evaluation of peripheral vascular disease.Search strategyMEDLINE and CENTRAL were searched with a search protocol presented below. Handsearching through reference lists of the retrieved articles and reviews was conducted.Main results224 and 57 abstracts from MEDLINE and CENTRAL respectively were retrieved from which 21 studies were selected. NIRS was evaluated for the diagnosis and severity evaluation in patients with peripheral vascular disease. Its parameters were shown to reflect the clinical status of patients, with good correlation to existing methods.ConclusionsCurrently NIRS technology can serve as an adjunct method for the diagnosis and evaluation of patients with peripheral vascular disease.