Diagnosis and evaluation of the severity of arterial insufficiency of the legs using ultrasonic Doppler flowmetry in the treadmill test

A method of diagnostics and assessment of the severity of arterial insufficiency of lower extremities was developed on the basis of multistep treadmill-test and measuring time of reestablishment of continuous bloodflow in the popliteal artery by the method of ultrasonic doppler flowmetry. An examination of 40 patients with angiographically detected alterations of the vessels and 18 healthy persons was performed. It was found that the diagnostic and assessment criterion of arterial insufficiency in treadmill-test with high parameters of sensitivity and specificity is longer duration of the period of reestablishment of continuous bloodflow over 180 sec. The arterial insufficiency severity is estimated by the value of exercise by the moment of the appearance of the criterion.