Vascular function in patients with lower extremity peripheral arterial disease: a comparison of functions in upper and lower extremities

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is caused by atherosclerosis. Assessment of endothelial function in patients with PAD has been limited to that in forearm circulation in previous studies. The purpose of this study was to evaluate vascular function in upper and lower extremities in patients with PAD and to determine the relationship between the ankle-brachial pressure index (ABPI) and endothelial function in forearm and leg circulation. Forearm blood flow (FBF) and leg blood flow (LBF) responses to reactive hyperemia and sublingual administration of nitroglycerin (NTG) were measured using strain-gauge plethysmography in 57 PAD patients and 24 control patients. LBF during reactive hyperemia was significantly less in PAD patients than in control patients (p < 0.001). FBF during reactive hyperemia in PAD patients was similar to that in control patients. NTG-induced vasodilation in upper and lower extremities was similar in the two groups. There was a significant relationship between the maximal LBF response to reactive hyperemia and the ABPI in both the patients with PAD and control patients (r = 0.384, p < 0.001), whereas maximal FBF response to reactive hyperemia was not correlated with ABPI (r = 0.182, p = 0.12). These findings suggest that LBF response to reactive hyperemia is impaired in PAD patients compared with that in control patients. Impairment of vascular reactivity of leg circulation may occur before impairment of vascular reactivity of forearm circulation in PAD patients and may be a better indicator of the degree of PAD than impairment of vascular reactivity of forearm circulation.